Final Fantasy VII: Calvin and Hobbes
by ducko
Summary: Chapter 24! Everyone survived the battle with Sephiroth and Vincent has joined the party. Now, they have arrived in Rocket Town...and a nasty surprise is in store for Calvin and Hobbes.
1. How it all began

Chapter One: How it all Began

Calvin and Hobbes were best friends for a long time. In fact, they had shared many different adventures with each other. Such as time-traveling to the past to observe dinosaurs, a duplication adventure in which Calvin made a duplicate of himself and the duplicate made duplicates. However, neither one of them knew that their next adventure was going to be the longest, most dangerous, and most exciting one yet.

Their next adventure started in the happiest place on the face of the universe: the Gold Saucer. Calvin and Hobbes were in the Wonder Square, playing games and trying to earn GP to earn fabulous prizes or to get a ride on the Speed Square roller coaster.

Calvin was playing a 3-D fighting game that copied his imaged and used him as a character to fight the people. For some out of reason, though, he could not get past the first fighter, which was a girl.

"ARGH! I LOST AGAIN! THIS IS SUCH A STUPID GAME!" Calvin shouted, kicking the game. He then turned to his friend, Hobbes and started to yell at him.

"YOU SCREWED ME UP! YOU MUST HAVE. THERE'S NO OTHER WAY I COULD HAVE LOST TO THAT GIRL!"

"Me? What did I do? I was just standing here," Hobbes calmly replied. "Just admit it. You stink…both physically and at the game." Hobbes loved to insult Calvin sometimes.

"I DO NOT!" Calvin replied, angrier than before. "YOU SCREWED ME UP! AND YOU'RE ONE TO TALK ABOUT ME SMELLING! YOU GET SO SMELLY; YOU HAVE TO TAKE BATHS IN THE WASHING MACHINE!"

"That's because I can't stand the way the bath tub smells after you've been in it!"

"BY GOLLY, YOU'RE ASKING FOR ONE RIGHT IN THE KISSER!" Calvin threatened, raising a fist to Hobbes.

Hobbes was about to prepare himself to fight, but stopped himself and Calvin. He said, "Wait! We can't fight here. If that Dio guy catches us fighting again, he'll throw us out of the Gold Saucer for good this time. Remember?"

Dio was the name of the man that owned the Gold saucer. Dio, Calvin, and Hobbes had a past with each other that wasn't too good. Whenever Calvin and Hobbes got into fights, they would happen to do it in front of Dio and he had gotten after them for it.

"Oh yeah," Calvin said. "Last time we rolled right in the Chocobo racing track and injured some Chocobos." He stood still thinking for a minute. "All right then, let's go to the battle arena! That way we won't get in trouble."

"Agreed," Hobbes said. With that, they both headed for the Battle Arena.

The Battle Arena was a place where people could test their fighting skills against monsters found throughout the world. However, sometimes they made special exceptions for people that wanted to test their strength against each other. This is what Calvin and Hobbes had in mind.

Calvin and Hobbes came to a room filled with chutes. These chutes were actually slides that took people to certain arenas throughout the Gold Saucer. There were a total of eight different arenas in the Gold Saucer. Finally, they found the one that was labeled Battle Arena.

Hobbes posed as a gentleman and said to Calvin, "After you, Calvin. Ladies first.

"You're gonna regret that after I'm through with ya in the battle arena," Calvin boasted.

After that, Calvin jumped into the chute. The chute acted like a slide. It would sometimes swerve to the left and other times, it would swerve to the right. Calvin would have enjoyed more if the fight coming up wasn't in his head.

After a couple of minutes of going down the slide, he finally arrived at the bottom. He heard Hobbes coming and got out of the way so Hobbes wouldn't land on him. 'The last thing I need before this fight is ol' bowling ball-butt landing on top of me,' he thought to himself.

Hobbes landed on the ground with a thud, but still looked ready to fight.

"Okay, fuzz ball! Get ready for the beating of your life…and no biting this time!" Calvin said.

Calvin and Hobbes walked to the entrance of the arena and were ready to rush up the stairs to the fighting arena when…

"LOOK AT THAT!" Hobbes shouted.

The entrance room was filled with dead people. There were about ten or eleven bodies lying on the ground. Chills were rushing down the spines of Calvin and Hobbes.

"W-W-What happened here?" Hobbes asked in a timid voice.

"H-H-Hobbes…I don't think we should be here right now," Calvin replied, looking as if he were about to pass out at any second.

"True. Shall we mossy on back to the arcade and settle our differences in a video game?" Hobbes suggested.

Calvin and Hobbes were ready to leave the arena when they noticed that three other individuals entered the room. One was a man that had yellow-spiky hair and was wearing dark-purple clothes. He also wielded a gigantic sword on his back. Another was a girl. She had long, brown hair and she wore a pink dress with a red vest. She wielded a large staff that looked to be made out of medal. The third was a stuffed moogle that was carrying a cat with a crown and a microphone around. They walked up to one of the bodies and examined it to find out that there was no sign of life.

"Who are those guys?" Calvin asked. "You think they know what happened?"

"I don't know and I don't care," Hobbes replied. "Let's just get out of here."

"Aw come on, Hobbes. I thought tigers dealt with this kind of stuff all the time."

"That's not true," Hobbes replied, seeming hesitant. "We tigers enjoy making a kill for food, but the sight of dead humans that were not killed by a tiger tends to make a tigers tummy queasy. Plus, we get so scared that we almost soil ourselves."

"Oh yeah? I thought tigers were brave and courageous creatures."

"Yes, but that doesn't include sticking our noses in other peoples business…especially if it involves dead people."

At that point, the man, woman, and stuffed moogle with the cat on its back started running up the stairs where the fighting arena was.

"Now, look," Calvin pointed. "Why do you think they're going up there?"

"Again: I don't know and I don't care," Hobbes said. "Let's just go."

"Aw, come on," Calvin pleaded. "Let's see what's going on. I want to know what happened."

"Um…Calvin, maybe we should just stay out of this one," Hobbes suggested. "This could get ugly."

"Come on, what if those three guys up there need help? We could rescue them and become heroes of a lifetime. We could even get lifetime passes to the Gold Saucer. We'll be famous."

"You can drop the 'we' stuff out. I'm not going," Hobbes said and started to head for the exit.

Calvin, however, was determined to make Hobbes go with him. After all, e needed a tiger to help him in case he got in trouble. He thought quickly and then he got an idea he knew would make Hobbes go with him.

"Okay…fine…stay here," Calvin began. "I guess I'll just have to find someone else to share all the beautiful women with."

Hobbes stopped in his tracks at the sound of the word 'women.' Calvin knew that women were Hobbes' main weakness. Especially young ones that thought he was cute.

"Women? Did you say women? As in babes in bikinis? Are they real good-looking babes?"

Only the most babelicious girls in the world," Calvin lied. "Oh, but you don't want to come, so what am I telling you for?"

Hobbes thought for a minute and finally said, "Well, I guess I'll go if it means we could become heroes. Heroes tend to get all the babes."

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Calvin shouted and started to follow the three people that ran up the stairs just now.

When they get up there, they saw the three people looking over another dead body.

Calvin finally found the courage to walk up to them and ask, "Excuse me, but what's going on?"

The man with spiky, yellow hair spoke sternly to Calvin, saying, "Listen, kid, You better get out of here. This is no place for children."

Hobbes seemed to be convinced with this statement and started to walk for the exit again Calvin grabbed a hold of his tail to stop him from doing this.

"We're not going anywhere until we find out what happened! So you might as well tell us what happened, because we'll pull it out of you one way or another!" Calvin threatened.

"Um, Calvin," Hobbes whispered. "You do see that humongous sword he's got, right?"

"So? He sees that I have a tiger, doesn't he?"

"Yes, but your tiger does not want to die anytime soon," Hobbes said in a hinting voice.

"Listen, you two," the man continued, "I'm not going to hurt anyone, but if you don't get out of here, someone else might."

"Oh, what's the matter?" Calvin taunted. "Are you scared of Hobbes? Come on, fight him! Or are you to chicken?"

The cat that was riding the moogle walked whispered to the girl, "Cute kid. Not very smart, but cute."

"I told you," the man continued, "I'm not going to hurt you, but I'll drag you out of here if I have to. Along with your tiger."

"I don't think you can," Calvin proclaimed. "Hobbes, sick him!" he ordered.

Very timidly, Hobbes walked up to the three strangers and looked at them for a minute. During that minute, there was nothing but silence. Hobbes could tell just by looking a the man that the man was far stronger and more deadly then he could ever be.

"Um…h-h-how are you today?" Hobbes finally asked.

The man just stood there with his arms folded. He made it clear that he was not yet intimidated by Hobbes.

"So," he continued, "W-W-Would you like to settle this over a game of Chinese checkers?"

At this statement, the three strangers had broken out with uncontrollable laughter. The cat had to hand onto the ears of his moogle, which gave a yelp in pain, to prevent himself from falling off.

"That's a good one," the man finally said, gasping for air.

Hobbes just stood there with his head hung down in embarrassment.

"WHAT? HOBBES! WHAT"RE YOU DOING!" Calvin shouted. "YOU"RE SUPPOSED TO BE THE FEROCIOS AND DEADLY BEAST, REMEMBER!"

I think that the 'ferocious and deadly beast is kind of cute," the girl said, wiping tears from under her eyes.

Hobbes' head and ears perked up with this statement. He was also smiling from ear to ear.

"You'd better watch it, lady," Calvin warned. "Hobbes is a very dangerous creature! Why, just look into those killer eyes!"

"I am," she said sarcastically. "Those 'killer eyes' actually look cute."

By now, Hobbes was smiling from ear to ear. "Hoo-hoo. I'm feeling lucky today," Hobbes stated, all excited.

SNAP OUT OF IT, LUMP HEAD!" Calvin shouted, annoyed by this. "YOU'RE A KILLER, NOT A CHARMER!"

"You're just jealous," Hobbes said, still smiling. "Oh, what a babe."

"Listen, kid," the man finally said, "I'm not going to tell you again. You and your tiger need to…

He never got to finish his sentence. At that point, a loud voice came from behind them that shouted louder than a sonic boom because of the grand size of the room, "WHAT JUST HAPPENED?"

Everyone turned around to see a man wearing nothing but a pair of tight shorts with several guards standing in the middle of the room. It was Dio, the owner of the Gold Saucer. He was a built individual that was in love with himself.

"What happened in here!" Dio demanded. He then turned to the strangers, Calvin, and Hobbes and asked, "Did you guys do this?"

"No," the man said, sounding a little nervous in the predicament he was in. "We just walked in here not to long ago and saw these dead people."

"LIES!" Dio shouted furiously. It was clear that he was not paying attention.

"No, really! We didn't do it!" Calvin said.

Dio turned his attention to Calvin, looked at him for a minute, and finally spoke.

"Hmm? Calvin? Hobbes? You two again? THAT"S IT! I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF YOU TWO CAUSING TROUBLE IN MY PARK! YOU"RE GOING DOWN BELOW THIS TIME! YOU THREE, TOO!"

"Wait! Just listen to us!" the cat pleaded. "We're innocent, I tell ya!"

However, the guards were not paying attention as they seized all five of them. After capturing them, they dragged them into a room that had a giant hole in the middle of it. This was the hole that led prisoners to the Corel Desert Prison: A prison that was surrounded by a desert. There was no need for cells or bars down there. Once a person went down, there was no way to escape. If someone tried, the desert would swallow them up.

Dio pushed a button next to the door to open the hole. He then pushed another one that summoned five robots that were twice the size of the man with spiky hair. They all had claws in front of them. Each robot used their claws to clamp around the prisoners. One for Calvin, one for Hobbes, and one each for the three strangers.

"Now," Dio spoke sternly, "you will all pay for your crimes below."

"JUST LISTEN TO US, FOR CRYIN OUT LOUD!" Calvin pleaded in an angry tone of voice.

But it was too late. Dio pushed another button and one by one, the robots jumped down the hole. The hole was dark, damp, and very unpleasant. This was the way it was meant to be; Dio was only warming them up for what was in store for them in the future.


	2. Calvin and Hobbes join the team

Chapter Two: Calvin and Hobbes join the team.

Once Calvin, Hobbes, and the three strangers were down in the desert, the robots that had jumped down with them jumped back up the hole the had come back down, leaving, Calvin, Hobbes, the man, the woman, and the cat in the desert.

"WAY TO GO, CALVIN!" Hobbes shouted. "NOW LOOK WHERE WE ARE! WE'RE STUCK IN A DESERT WITH THREE COMPLETE STRANGERS!"

"OH, SHUT UP, FLEA BUCKET! THIS IS YOUR ENTIRE FAULT!"

"ME? WHY IS IT MY FAULT? YOU'RE THE ONE THAT WANTED TO FOLLOW THEM! NOT ME! REMEMBER?" Hobbes started to imitate Calvin as if he were a caveman. "Oooh! Oooh! Oooh! Let follow three strangers. Me want to find out why people dead even though smart tiger say it bad idea. WELL, WAS I RIGHT OR WHAT?"

"OH, SHUT UP! IT'S YOUR FAULT BECAUSE YOU WOULDN'T ATTACK THEM!"

"WHY ON EARTH WOULD I WANT TO ATTACK THREE STRANGERS FOR NO REASON? WHY?"

While Calvin and Hobbes were arguing, they did not realize that the three strangers were looking at another man they seemed to know. He was a bigger, black man that wore green army pants with a gray vest. The figure that stood out most on him was his right arm. It wasn't an arm, but a gun.

"Barret," the man said. "Up in the Gold Saucer, a wounded desk worker said that a man with a gun-arm shot all of those people. Was that you?"

The gun-arm man, Barret, just turned around and shouted, "Just leave me alone, Cloud! All of ya! If ya don't I WILL shoot ya! Yeah, I'm even talking to you, Aeris! And you, cat, whoever ya are."

With those words, Barret ran off into a village that was in the prison.

The man, Cloud, the woman, Aeris, and the cat, who was still unknown to anyone, ran off after him.

"Now where are they going?" Calvin wondered, watching what happened.

"Let's not follow them anymore, okay?" Hobbes pleaded. "We're in enough of a mess as it is."

"Where else are we going to go?" Calvin argued and started to follow.

Hobbes just stood still for a minute. He then said something a tiger shouldn't say and followed Calvin. 'I know I'm going to regret,' he said to himself.

As the entered the village, they saw it was filled with strange individuals. Three people were at the side, saying to themselves that the prison was heaven. Calvin and Hobbes thought it best to stay away from those weirdo's. Another man seemed to follow Calvin and Hobbes wherever they went. Hobbes got sick of it after awhile and turned around and bit his leg. The man shouted in pain and ran away as fast as he could.

At last, they saw Cloud, Aeris, and the cat riding the stuffed moogle. They were standing outside of a shack. After hesitating for a minute, they decided to go in. Calvin and Hobbes decided to follow them into the shack.

As they entered, they saw Cloud talking with the cat.

"So, Cait Sith, do you know anything about down here?"

"Just that the desert can swallow anyone up at anytime and that there's only one way out, but I don't know what it is."

"Look who came in," Aeris said, pointing to Calvin and Hobbes.

"I thought I told you two to stay away from us," Cloud said sternly.

"Well, we have nowhere else to go to," Calvin said in his best puppy voice.

"That's your problem," Cloud reminded him. "I told you to leave, but you chose not to and now you're stuck down here."

"That's what I told him," Hobbes added, hoping to get some brownie points.

At that moment, the man with a gun-arm, Barret, barged into the hut. He saw the five people standing in the room and anger filled his face.

"DIDN'T I TELL YA NOT TO GET INVOLVED?"

With those words, he lifted his gun-arm and pointed it to all five of them.

"J-J-Just wait a minute," Cait Sith began to plead. "Hear us out. I'm sure we can work this out!"

Barret, however, wasn't listening. He started firing at all five of them, not even taking the time to aim.

Cloud pulled Aeris to the ground and covered her. Cait Sith just squatted behind his moogle. Calvin and Hobbes jumped behind a couch and stayed low to the ground.

After a minute of firing, Barret stopped. Everyone came out of hiding and eyed Barret with worried looks on their faces. Calvin and Hobbes were shaking so badly, they could barely walk.

"I didn't want none of ya ta get involved," Barret said after a minute of silence, seeming all shaken up.

At that moment, two other beings entered the shack. One of them was another girl with a black skirt, white tank-top and long-brown hair. The other appeared to be a red dog with a flaming tail.

"Is everyone all right?" the girl asked frantically? "I heard gun-shots going off!"

"We're all right, Tifa," Cloud replied.

The dog turned to Barret and asked, "I heard all those people up in the Gold Saucer were shot! Is this true?"

"No, you've got it all wrong," Barret exclaimed. "It wasn't me."

Meanwhile, Calvin and Hobbes were behind the couch, still arguing.

"I KNEW I WAS GOING TO REGRET THIS!" Hobbes began to shout. "WHY IS IT YOU HAVE TO KNOW EVERY LITTLE BIT OF DETAIL THAT'S GOING ON WITH THESE STRANGERS? DIDN'T YOUR MOM EVER TELL YOU NOT TO TALK TO STRANGERS?"

"WELL, EXCUSE ME FOR TRYING TO MAKE US FAMOUS! IF WE HADN'T FOLLOWED THEM, WE NEVER WOULD HAVE BEEN SHOT AT, AM I RIGHT?"

"AND HOW IS IT A GOOD THING WE WERE SHOT AT?"

"BECAUSE OF MY CURIOSITY, NOW I HAVE AN AWESOME STORY I CAN SHARE WITH MY CLASS IN SCHOOL!"

"YEAH? WELL, YOU'RE CURIOSITY ALMOST KILLED A CAT…ME!"

"YOU'RE A TIGER, DOOFUS! THE SAYING IS 'CURIOSITY KILLED THE CAT.' NOT A TIGER! THAT SHOWS HOW DUMB YOU ARE!"

"COMPARED TO YOU, I'M EINSTEIN!"

With those words, Calvin jumped on Hobbes and started fighting him. Their ruckus caused everyone else in the room to turn their attention to Calvin and Hobbes. They had knocked over a chair, a table, and the couch they were hiding behind.

"YOU TAKE THAT BACK, YOU MISERABLE, STRIPEY, BUCKET OF ORANGE FLEA BAIT!" Calvin shouted as he was pulling on Hobbes' ears.

"NOT UNTIL YOU ADMIT WE'RE THE REASON WE'RE DOWN HERE!" Hobbes responded, biting Calvin's arm.

At that second, Barret walked over to Calvin and Hobbes and picked them both up by the collars of their necks. He gave them both an ugly look.

"Either the two of ya stop fighting or you'll both be fighting me and you do NOT want to fight me right now!" he said in his best threatening voice.

Both Calvin and Hobbes developed looks of fear on their faces. They obeyed Barret and sat down without another word.

Cloud then walked up to them with a very serious look on his face and said, "Okay, you two. You didn't walk away when you had the chance. Now…"

Cloud never got to finish his sentence because he was interrupted by Hobbes, who had fallen onto his knees and started to plead, "PLEASE DON'T KILL ME! I SWEAR I DIDN'T WANT TO GET INVOLVED!" he said while pointing to Calvin "SPARE ME, PLEASE! I'LL LEAVE RIGHT NOW IF YOU DO!"

What? I'm not going to kill you," Cloud assured. "I'm telling you right now, though. Get away and don't come near us again."

"What? How are we supposed to get out of here? What do we do now?" Calvin demanded.

"That's your problem, now,' Tifa responded. "You shouldn't have stuck your nose where it doesn't belong."

With those words, Hobbes immediately went to Tifa's feet and started to beg to her, saying, "OH, PLEASE DON'T LEAVE US HERE ALONE! I DIDN'T ASK FOR THIS! HE PULLED ME INTO THIS! LET ME COME AND LEAVE HIM!"

"Oh, no you don't, you jerk!" Calvin said, pulling Hobbes away from Tifa "We got in this together, and that's how we're gonna get out of this! You're not gonna walk out on me!"

"The kid's right," Barret said. "You two gotta figure this out for yerselves, just like we do."

"Wait a minute," Calvin protested. "I said we would stick together, but I never said I would leave! I'm staying with you guys!"

"Oh, no you're not!" Barret replied. "What we're doing is something kids like you should not be a part of."

"Why? Is it gonna be dangerous?" Calvin asked.

"Extremely dangerous," Cait Sith replied.

"AWESOME! Then I definitely want to come!"

"Way to go, cat!" Barret shouted smacking Cait Sith across the back of the head. "That only encouraged them!"

"Not me," Hobbes said. "Goodbye." With that, he began to head for the door that led outside.

"Kid, you should listen to your friend and leave," Cloud said calmly. "He's smart for just taking the opportunity while it's still there."

"Smart? More like cowardly!" Calvin said with disgust in his voice. "Just let us come! Please?"

As Hobbes was walking out the door, he suddenly caught a glimpse of Tifa. He had never noticed how beautiful she looked. Her hair was black, long, and shiny. Her eyes were also mind-numbing. Hobbes immediately fell in love with Tifa as hearts started popping out of his head.

He then noticed Aeris. She had beautiful features too. Her dress made her look like she had come from heaven. She also had pretty hair that was well groomed. Her eyes were also eyes that Hobbes got lost in when he looked at them. He fell in love with Aeris, too as more hearts came out of his head as he was grinning from ear to ear.

"You know, I've been thinking," Hobbes suddenly said. "You guys say that you're going on a dangerous mission? Well, I was just remembered something. We tigers are the best ally anyone could have. We're the meanest and leanest animals in a jungle. You many want me to help you along the way. We can be ferocious and deadly at times.

"Buddy, you were just groveling at my feet, begging me to spare your life when I wasn't even going to kill you," Cloud argued. "Now, you expect me to think you're a fearless beast."

Hobbes was silent for a few seconds, but he looked at Tifa and Aeris again. He was determined to join them.

"Well, maybe I was a little afraid at first, but I would risk my life for my friends when they're in danger."

He then walked up to Tifa and Aeris and continued, saying, "If one of these two were in danger, I would take a bullet for them any day. That's a promise."

"Aw, he's so sweet," Aeris said.

"HOBBES!" Calvin shouted furiously, "YOU'RE THE PRESIDENT OF G.R.O.S.S.! I SHOULD HAVE YOUR BADGE AND TITLE FOR THAT STATEMENT! AS A MATTER OF FACT, YOU'RE OUT OF THE CLUB!"

Well, I would," Hobbes said, hoping to get Tifa and Aeris to notice him. "But not just for them, but for anyone in this room...even you, Calvin. That's no lie."

"Well, I don't know," Barret said, thinking hard. "What do you guys think?"

"Let me observe him," Red XIII replied. "Come here."

Hobbes obeyed and walked right up to Red XIII. Red began looking him over. He was seeing if Hobbes had the strength of a warrior. After a little while, he looked right into his eyes and studied them as carefully as possible.

"Hmm...interesting," Red said after a few minutes of studying Hobbes.

"What is it?" Cloud asked.

"His heart is full of hidden courage. It's there, but only certain aspects bring it out. On the other hand, your heart is full of mercy and peace… he always trusts his heart and instincts. He knows when to fight and he knows when to show mercy. His heart tells him what is right and what is wrong…for the most part. He has the perfect heart of a true, just warrior. I think he would make a good ally."

"You sure yer up fer the challenge, buddy?" Barret asked, sounding intrigued by what Red XIII said.

Hobbes took another look at Aeris and Tifa and said with confidence, "As ready for it as I'll ever be."

"HEY! WHAT ABOUT ME?" Calvin demanded. "LOOK INTO MY EYES! YOU'LL SEE A KILLER!"

"Kid, I don't even need to look right into your eyes to see that your heart is foolish and uncontrollable," Red XIII said. "You wouldn't even make a good ally with a chocobo in a chocobo race."

"I WOULD, TOO! YOU JUST DIDN'T LOOK RIGHT!" Calvin protested.

"Kid, you're not coming," Cloud said. "You're too young and you'd probably get in the way."

"Hold on," Hobbes said. "Calvin is my best friend. We've been together in everything. Where he goes, I go and if he doesn't come, then I don't come."

This shocked Calvin. He was surprised to hear that despite the fact that Hobbes was down here because of him, he was still willing to stick by his side.

"Cloud," Aeris interrupted, "I know this might sounds crazy, but I have a strange feeling that we should bring him with us."

"What? Why?" Cloud asked with shock in his voice.

"I don't know...I think I'm being told by someone to let him come and that he'll play an important roll in our mission. Besides, he's only six years old. Do you think we should really leave him down here all by himself with those terrible people outside?"

Cloud thought about it for a few minutes before he finally said, "All right, kid. You can come with us, but one screw-up, and you're out...understand?"

"All right," Calvin promised. He meant it this time. He wanted to know what was happening here and wanted to see it to the very end.

"All right, then," Barret said. "If yer coming with us, it would help if we knew yer names."

"Calvin."

"My name's Hobbes."

"Well, nice to meet ya both," Barret said. "Now, don't be scared about what's happening down here...cause it's nothing compared to what yer in store fer in the future."


	3. In The Desert With Calvin And Hobbes

Chapter Three: A Day in the Desert with Calvin and Hobbes.

Cloud and everyone had filled Calvin and Hobbes in on their mission and what their purpose was. They explained how they were trying to save the planet from the likes of Shinra, a company that was bent on world domination through the use of the planet's blood, mako, and the likes of Sephiroth, a man that was once known as the most powerful solder on earth and had gone crazy one day when he learned the truth of his history and how he was created by an ancient named JENOVA. Now, Sephiroth wanted to kill those that aren't of the Ancient race and take the planet for himself and JENOVA. Calvin was eager to meet this guy while Hobbes shuddered at the thought of going face to face with him.

At the moment, though, they had another mission: find Dyne; Barret's long, lost friend that was found in the prison. Their objective was to find him and bring peace back to his mind and hopefully get him to join them.

"Okay. It's settled. Barret and I are going indefinitely," Cloud began. "Who else should come with us? It should be one more. It'd be dangerous if more than three went. So, who's it gonna be?"

"Pick me! Pick me!" Calvin pleaded. "I'll be a great help! I promise!"

"Whoa there, kid," Barret stated. "I don't think ya wanna come on a mission like this yer first day."

"Why not?" Calvin demanded. "I'd be great! I know it and you know it! Just let me come."

"Kid, this is an important mission. I want to succeed and that means we need a skilled fighter to come with us," Cloud explained.

"I'm skilled!" Calvin argued. "You should see me play Calvinball! If I can almost beat a tiger, than I should have no problem with a few enemies!"

"Listen up, kid. This mission ain't fer no children like yerself. This mission is gonna get ugly," Barret warned.

"He's right," Aeris kindly stated. "Maybe you can come along on another mission, okay?"

"BUT I WANNA COME NOW!' Calvin desperately shouted in his most annoying, whiny voice.

"No, kid! Not this time!" Cloud shouted. "Maybe another time! If you keep that up, then you WON"T ever come with us on a mission!"

"Stop calling me kid!" Calvin demanded. "I have a name, you know! It's Calvin and don't you forget it, you spiky-haired jerk!"

"He's one to talk about spiky hair," Cait Sith whispered to Red XIII. "Look at his compared to Cloud's and he's only six."

"Yes, it doesn't quite seem possible, does it?"

"Aeris, you come with us," Cloud said, ignoring Calvin's groaning. "Everyone else, stay here and we'll be back as soon as possible...that includes you Calvin."

"...fine…," Calvin grumbled.

"Okay, then let's get going," Cloud said. "You ready for this, Barret?" he asked, turning to him.

"Yeah," Barret replied in a nervous voice. "As ready as I was the day we bombed the number one mako reactor."

"Good," Cloud said. He tuned to Tifa and said, "Tifa, keep an extra eye on Calvin while we're gone. Don't let him out of your site."

Calvin was outraged at that sentence and began shouting again.

"What! What is this, baby-sitting?" he demanded. "You don't need to worry about me! I'll behave! I always behave!"

"Remember, Tifa…not for a second," Cloud replied in an unsure voice.

"You got it," she said.

Then, Cloud, Aeris, and Barret set off on their mission. Everyone waited outside the cabin until they were out of sight.

When they were out of sight, she turned to Calvin and said, "Okay let's get in the cabin.

"Hey, no pushing, lady!" Calvin shouted "I'll call the police on you and have them throw you in the slammer so fast, your head will spin!"

"Um, Calvin…technically, we're already in the slammer," Hobbes reminded him.

"Oh."

Calvin tried to think of a response to that, but couldn't think of anything.

"Just go," Tifa said. "Don't give me any trouble and we'll get along just fine. Understand?"

"Lady, I don't take any orders from baby-sitters! Ask Hobbes and he'll tell you of the time we locked our baby-sitter, Rosalyn, out of the house because she gave us trouble! We don't listen to baby-sitters. They listen to us and don't you forget it!" Calvin threatened.

Tifa kneeled down to Calvin so they could see eye to eye and said in her sweetest voice, "Calvin, go in that cabin and then lock me out of it."

"Why?"

"You'll see."

Just as Tifa requested, Calvin went into the cabin and locked the door behind him.

"Ha! That was easy!" Calvin said in an arrogant voice, proud of what just happened. "I guess she didn't want to put up with my toughness! That'll show her not to…"

Calvin never got to finish the sentence as a sudden explosion noise made Calvin jump out of his pants. He turned around to see that the door had been knocked down by none other than Tifa. She had just kicked the door to smithereens like it was nothing.

She then walked right up to Calvin, who was too scared to do anything, and picked him up by his shirt collar. She then said in a low, mean voice that was almost like a growl, "Now…are you going to give me any trouble or not!"

She then set Calvin back on the ground.

"Well, the others are probably gonna be gone for awhile. I might as well get some sleep until they come back," Calvin replied in a scared tone of voice.

Cait Sith, Red XIII, and Hobbes were still standing outside, shocked from what just happened.

Hobbes pulled out a note pad and scribbled in it, "Note to self: Tifa is a babe with an attitude. I must not make her angry."

Hours had passed. Cait Sith and Red XIII were resting on the ground next to the couch, Tifa was sitting in a chair, and Calvin and Hobbes were sleeping in a corner of the room, waiting for the others to return.

Finally, after three hours had passed, Cloud, Aeris, and Barret returned to the cabin. Barret looked depressed and it looked as though he had been crying.

"How'd it go?" Tifa asked. "Where's Dyne?"

"H-H-He's…dead…" Barret replied, voice shaking. "I killed him…just like I killed the people in my hometown…I…failed him as a friend…I failed again."

"Shhh... It wasn't your fault," Aeris replied, putting her arms around Barret. "It just happened without warning."

Barret's sobbing had awaken the others.

" yawn What's going on?" Calvin asked sleepily.

Hobbes was stretching tiger-style when he heard Barret's sobbing.

"Why's Barret crying?" Hobbes asked, fighting off a yawn.

After Hobbes woke up a little more, he strode over to Barret

"Are you all right?"

"Course I'm all right!" Barret replied, fighting the tears. "I jus' had something in my eye, that's all! "

"No, you don't," Hobbes replied, seeing right through the lie. "You're sad about something. What's wrong?"

"I'm fine!" Barret lied, sniffling. "It's jus' dust, is all."

Hobbes ignored Barret's remarks and started rubbing his head across Barret's legs like a cat normally would.

W-W-What're ya doin'?

"You look like you could use some comfort and no one can comfort someone like a tiger," Hobbes replied.

"Well...thanks," Barret replied, fighting back the tears.

"Aw. What did I tell you? Hobbes is so nice and sympathetic." Aeris smiled, patting Hobbes on the head. This, of course, caused Hobbes' ears to perk up.

"Score! Didn't even try and I score!" Hobbes thought to himself. "I guess I'm just a charmer no matter what I do. Smooch-city, here I come!"

Calvin had just woken up and was now joining the rest of the group.

"So what do we do? How do we get out of here? The sun's starting to get hot down here."

"Here's the deal," Cloud explained "If we want out, we have to win a chocobo race up above."

"What do you mean?" Cait Sith asked. "Do we have to pick a winner or something? If so, I know every jockey and chocobo up there. Count on me to pick your winner."

"No. One of us has to race on a chocobo."

"WHAT?" everyone asked.

"I'm not lying," Cloud replied. "One of us has to race on a chocobo and win if we want to get out of here. There's no other way."

"Humph," Hobbes grumbled. "If you ask me, one of us should race against the chocobos. We tigers are the fastest things on earth. I could easily beat a chocobo."

"That's because you'd pounce the chocobo and eat it up before it got a chance to get away from you," Calvin spoke. "That's why we can't go to that Chocobo Ranch anymore."

"Ah, but that chocobo was sick and dying," Hobbes explained. "I just put it out of its misery, that's all. That farmer should have thanked me. We tigers are handy like that, you know."

"Well, we know not to let old bird-mauler here do it," Calvin insulted. "Who here can do it?"

"I was thinking Cloud at first jus cuz he's the leader," Barret said. "But we could use someone that's light." He added, looking at Calvin.

"Someone that the chocobo can easily carry to give it a speed advantage," Aeris added, looking at Calvin.

"How about it, Calvin?" Cloud asked. If know how to handle a chocobo, we'll let you do it."

"ME? Why me?" Calvin began. "I don't…"

Calvin suddenly stopped himself. He realized that this was his chance to get in on some action.

"I mean…of course I know how to handle a chocobo," he lied. "Why, I was the best chocobo racer back home. No other kid could do it quite like I could."

"But you've never ridden a chocobo before Calvin," Hobbes said.

Calvin then grabbed Hobbes and started pulling him into a corner, excusing himself from the others.

Once they were out of sight from the others, he turned to Hobbes and said, "Look, fuzz head. I'm sick of sitting and waiting for some action. I'm going to go crazy if I stay here."

"But you don't know what to do," Hobbes argued. "When you loose, we'll be down here even longer than I want to. We should just let someone else do it."

"Hobbes! Didn't you hear them? They asked me to do it! They obviously don't know what to do!"

"But they suggested Cloud first. I say we should just let him do it and get out of here. The air is starting to dry up my nose."

"Aw, you've got enough boogers up there to keep it moist. Besides, you heard them. I've got an advantage the other racers don't have. I'm small. Therefore, the chocobo can run easier."

"Well, you're right about one thing, shrimp. But I don't think you can win unless you know how to handle a chocobo."

"Come on, Hobbes. How hard can it be?"

"Every time you say that, I just know something bad is going to happen," Hobbes sighed.


	4. Chocobo Race

Chapter Four: The Chocobo Race

Before they knew it, Cloud, Aeris, and Barret were leading Calvin and Hobbes to a trailer that was surrounded by guards.

"Okay, you two wait right out here," Cloud ordered. "The three of us will go in and talk with Mr. Coates about putting you in that race."

"Okay, but make it quick," Calvin asked. "I hate not having anything to do."

As soon as Aeris, Barret, and Cloud entered the building, Hobbes tried to talk Calvin out of doing this again.

"Listen, if I were you, I would just tell them that you don't know how to race a chocobo and let Cloud do it. The sand is starting to irritate my eyes."

"NO!" Calvin shouted. "I'm getting sick of doing nothing. I just want to do something so I can show these dimwits that I'm worth something in their group."

"Calvin, just admit it: you're not worth more than a pile of mud in life itself."

"WHAT? WHY YOU BRAINLESS…"

Calvin was about to swear, but Cloud had just emerged from the building and called to Calvin and Hobbes to enter the building.

"See. Hobbes. They think I can do it," Calvin said obnoxiously.

"That's because they think you have an advantage over the other chocobo jockeys. If they knew you had no racing skills whatsoever, they would have sent Cloud."

"Well, I'll have to show them that I can do it, then, won't I?"

When Calvin and Hobbes entered the building, they were confronted by a man that was wearing a plaid jacket and had white hair. The man's name was Mr. Coates and he was the boss of the prison.

"This is the kid?" Mr. Coates asked doubtfully. "He seems a little young to be a jockey, doesn't he?"

"Buddy, I'll have you know that I can handle my tiger here," Calvin boasted. "So what makes you think I can't handle a chocobo?"

"Well, if this is who you guys want to race, then I have no objection to it," Mr. Coates replied, snickering to himself.

"HEY! What's so funny?" Calvin demanded. "Did you look in a mirror and realize what you were wearing? If so, then I can understand why you're laughing!"

"Why, you little brat!" Mr. Coates shouted, reaching for Calvin.

Calvin immediately ran behind Barret for protection. Mr. Coates tried to reach for Calvin, but he was grabbed by the collar of his shirt and was lifted into the air by Barret.

"Touch our racer, and I'll beat you until you can't grow anymore," Barret threatened..

"O-O-Okay...," Mr. Coates replied, voice shaking.

"Yeah, you better remember not to mess with me!" Calvin threatened, still hiding behind Barret.

"Shut up, kid," Barret said.

"Now then," Mr. Coates continued, brushing himself off, "if this 'kid' wishes to participate in the race, he must have a manager."

"A manager? I didn't know anything about that!" Cloud replied. "Where are we going to get a manager down here?"

"I believe I can help you with that," a voice from outside said.

With those words, a girl dressed in pink entered the building. She looked very professional in her dress and the way her blonde, curly hair was done.

"I'm sorry, but I couldn't help but overhear your situation. My name is Esther and I believe I can help you with your problem. You see, I work as a manager for jockeys on the chocobo racing tracks.

"Oh, great," groaned Calvin. "That's just what I need: another girl. Oh brother, why can't I ever get a cool guy like Barret?"

Hobbes, however, was looking at Esther with hearts coming out of his head again.

"Well, you were right for once, Calvin," Hobbes began. "We're going to be meeting a lot of babes on this journey. Where's my comb when I need it?" he asked while searching through his pockets.

"Knock it off, lump head!" Calvin demanded.

"Do you have experience?" Cloud asked Esther.

"Are you kidding?" Mr. Coates laughed. "Esther here is one of the best Chocobo managers to ever be born in this world."

"Yeah, well I'm sure there are guys out there that are better than her," Calvin grumbled.

"Calvin, you want to get out of here or not?" Cloud asked a little impatiently.

"No, I don't mind it down here. I've always wanted to be fried like an egg," Calvin replied sarcastically. "Of course I want to get out of here, spiky!"

"Then you're going to have to learn to get along with her, Calvin."

"Hey, I'll have no trouble getting along with her," Hobbes said, smiling from ear to ear.

"HOBBES, KNOCK IT OFF!" Calvin shouted. "Remember our G.R.O.S.S. pledge:

_Girls are trouble_

_Yes it's true_

_Stay away from them_

_And you won't get the cootie flu." _

"Well, I'm safe because I've had my cootie shots. Therefore, girls don't bother me a bit.

"Alright, you two. Either ya both knock it off or I'll knock ya both off! Understand?" Barret threatened.

"...Okay..." Hobbes replied in a meek voice.

"...Fine..." Calvin grumbled.

"Well then," Esther spoke, pretending as though she didn't hear anything that was just said, "Calvin, shall we get going? The race is going to start soon."

Soon, Esther, Calvin, and Hobbes were riding an elevator that took people back up to the Gold Saucer. (Calvin refused to go if Hobbes didn't go with him.)

"Now, are you sure you know how to handle a chocobo?" Esther asked Calvin.

"Of course I do," Calvin lied.

"Are you sure you don't need me to explain anything? We're going to be up there soon."

"Lady, I'm surprised that you don't have more faith in us men. What man can't handle a chocobo?"

"You," Hobbes mumbled to himself. Calvin gave him an elbow to the stomach to keep him quiet.

"Okay, if you're sure," Esther said uneasily. "Here we are. Let's go."

As they stepped out of the elevator, they found themselves in a room that was full of jockeys waiting to enter the next race. One of the jockeys walked up to them.

"Esther, good to see you again," the jockey said.

"You too, Joe," Esther replied.

"You look beautiful as usual."

"Tee hee. Thanks," Esther replied blushing a little.

"Wow, I could pick up some tips from that guy," thought Hobbes.

" cough cough looser cough ," was what came out of Calvin.

"And who do you have with you?" Joe asked, noticing Calvin and Hobbes "standing behind her. 

"This boy is Calvin. This is Hobbes. He's a tiger, as if you couldn't tell."

Joe walked up to Hobbes. He was a tall, strong-looking man, though he did dress a little funny. He wore a red shirt and white pants and wore a sombrero with strings dangling from the sides.

"I'm very glad to meet you," he said to Hobbes, holding out his hand for a handshake.

"Glad to meet you too," Hobbes replied, answering the handshake.

"My, that's quite a hand grip you have there. You must be a lady charmer, I can tell."

"You think so?" Hobbes asked eagerly.

"I know so."

He then extended his hand to Calvin, who just folded his arms and gave Joe a dirty look.

"For your information, geek," Calvin began, "we exterminate girls. The only thing girls are good for is colonizing Pluto, I say. Any man who likes girls is and enemy to us.

"To him, he means," Hobbes added.

"Ah, so young," Joe chuckled. "I remember when I was like that. I used to think of ways to terrorize girls. Now, I think of ways to charm them."

"I guess the saying is true," Calvin said. "You forget useful things as you grow older."

"No, my friend. You forget the useless information and learn new, useful tactics for the real world."

"Can you teach me these new techniques?" Hobbes begged.

"HOBBES!" Calvin scolded.

"Maybe some other time. I have a race to attend to," Joe replied.

"Is it the next one?" Esther asked.

"Why, yes it is."

"You better watch out, Calvin," Esther warned. "Joe's one of the top jockey's of chocobo racing."

"He's also one of the dorkiest," Calvin thought to himself.

"You see, Joe," Esther explained, "Calvin is racing to get himself and his friends out of the prison down below."

"I see," Joe said. "Unfortunately, Calvin, I am one who tends to make these types of people earn their way out of that dreadful place. I cannot just let you win. It is against my nature. However, I do wish you the best of luck."

With those words, Joe bowed to all three of them and walked away.

"What a gentleman," Esther said in a dreamy voice.

"What a good sport," Hobbes said with respect.

"What a looser," Calvin said in a disgusted voice. "How did he make it to the top rankings?"

"Anyways, come on Calvin," Esther said. "The race is coming up."

"Good luck! I'll be watching," Hobbes called.

Esther took Calvin to a desk to fill out some paper work for registration. After that, she took Calvin to the race track, where Calvin's chocobo was waiting for him.

"I hope you and Chester here can get along," Esther said, petting Chester's beak. "I think you two can make a good connection with each other. He's one of my fastest chocobos."

"So it's a male? Finally, someone knows how to handle these situations." Calvin replied, sounding a little more pleased.

"He's sure to be good competition to Joe."

She looked over at the lane next to them to see Joe mounting his black chocobo. He looked over and saw Esther. He pulled a rose off of his hat and threw it at Esther. In return, she caught it, wiggled it between her fingers, and waved back at him.

"Oh, please, lady. Come off yourself and help me climb on the chocobo," Calvin said.

Esther helped Calvin mount the chocobo and helped him get all settled on it for the race. She then kissed her chocobo on the beak, wished Calvin luck, and walks out of the stall)

"Okay, Calvin. Relax. You can do this," Calvin told himself. "How hard can it be?"

"Hey Calvin," a voice came.

Calvin looked up to see that it was Joe.

"May the best jockey win," he said.

"Oh, don't worry. I will!" Calvin replied confidently.

"As soon as Calvin looked away from Joe, he returned to his nervous state of mind,

"Okay, I just kick my chocobo and let it run. All I need to do is steer it in the right direction. See? That's all there is to it."

"Welcome to today's race," an announcer stated over the loudspeaker. "Before our race begins, we would like to remind all of our fans that if you bought a ticket..."

"Oh, just start already," Calvin moaned.

Another ten minutes of announcements went by before the race was ready to begin.

"On your marks! Get set! GO!"

At that moment, all of the doors to the stalls opened and all of the chocobos started running. That is, except for Calvin's whose just stood there.

"HEY! MOVE, YOU STUPID BIRD!" Calvin scolded. "Oh, right forgot the kick," Calvin remembered, slapping his forehead.

He gave it a harsh kick at the sides. The chocobo jumped in the air and gave a loud squawk before running out of the stall frantically with Calvin flying through the air, hanging onto the rope for dear life.

"WOAH! SLOW DOWN! PASSENGER ON THE BACK! WAAAAAHHHHH!"

He started passing other jockeys, but instead of riding the chocobo, he was flying behind it, holding onto the ropes for the ride of his life. Soon, he's passed all but Joe and his black chocobo.

"Joe's out in front and has a good lead," the announcer announced. "Second place is slowly gaining, but the jockey isn't handling so well, right now. He's literally flying. I guess he forgot that you don't, under any circumstances, kick a chocobo!"

"Oh, sure. NOW he tells me!" Calvin groaned. "Slow down up there, will ya?

He had finally managed climb back onto the chocobo. When he sat back down, though, he noticed that he was running towards the other four jockeys that were behind him. He was going backwards.

" Hey! Turn! TURN!" Calvin pleaded. "NO, NO, NO! The track is back that way! Stupid bird!"

Frustrated and without thinking, he gave the chocobo another kick to the sides. The chocobo went ballistic again and started running faster than before. Fortunately for Calvin, he steered back on track and was running in the right direction. However, he was back in the air, hanging on for dear life again.

"I can see the headlines now: Six-year old Calvin killed by insane chocobo. If only we had given him a smarter chocobo."

"I don't think that kid knows what he's doing!" the announcer stated. "He's going to get killed!"

"I do too know what I'm doing!" Calvin shouted. "You don't think I'm doing this on purpose? TURN! I know what I'm doing! This is easy! TO THE RIGHT, YOU STUPID BIRD!"

It was clear, though, Calvin didn't know what he was doing.

"Great, what am I going to do?" Calvin asked, climbing back on the chocobo again.

As he sat down, though, he sat ion something that seemed a little soft, but solid. He looked to see that he was sitting on Gyshal greens, chocobo food. He then had an idea. He grabbed a piece of string and tied the plant to it and held it in front of the chocobo. The chocobo saw it and immediately began to run after it, following it wherever it went. Calvin used this as a source of steering and had finally gained control of the chocobo. Soon, Calvin was back where he was...in second place, neck to neck with Joe.

"I can't believe it! That kid has managed to control his chocobo and has caught up to Joe, folks. They are now neck and neck. It's going to be a photo finish!"

"I've gotta win this race! They're depending on me!" Calvin thought to himself. "But the chocobo won't run any faster…unless…"

He gave the chocobo a kick at the sides again. The chocobo went ballistic one more time, running faster that Joe's chocobo. Calvin hung in for dear life as he crossed the finish line first.

"Calvin wins the race, but at a cost, folks. "His chocobo is wound up and Calvin can't make it stop!"

Calvin began to pull himself onto the chocobo again. As soon as he sat back down, he pulled the greens up to himself and dropped them in front of the chocobo, which caused it to stop and start eating the greens.

"Whew! I'm glad that's over with," Calvin sighed, jumping off the chocobo's back.

Esther came running up to her chocobo and started to pet it, calming it down. She then turned to Calvin.

"Congratulations, Calvin! You've won your first ever chocobo race."

"Of course I did. What did you expect?"

"To be honest, I didn't think you stood a chance, without having any skills and all." Esther said. "That was pretty smart, though. Using those greens to steer your chocobo. I never would have thought of that. But, don't kick the chocobos next time. It annoys them greatly and they won't trust you as much in the future," She scolded.

"Yeah, I'll remember that," Calvin replied, rubbing his butt.

"Well, anyways, you've won and that means you and your friends are out of that prison. I explained to Dio the situation and he said that you and your friends were free to go."

"ALL RIGHT!" Calvin shouted excitedly. "Now maybe they'll trust me and let me in on the action."

"Now, let's get you back to your friends," Esther said, taking her chocobo and leading it and Calvin back to the entrance.


	5. Tifa vs Calvin

Chapter Four: Tifa vs. Calvin

As Calvin returned to the waiting room for the jockeys, he was greeted with congratulations from his new friends and his best friend, Hobbes. Because he had won the race, he and his friends were now free from the prison. Alongside his friends was a man that looked familiar to Calvin as well as everyone else in that room.

"Congratulations on your victory out there, lad," Dio said, slapping Calvin hard on the back, unaware of Calvin's size compared to his own. "I must admit, you looked like you could use a little more practice, but that was smart thinking with the greens. Anyways, a deal is a deal. You have won the race for you and your friends here. Therefore, you and all of your friends are free to go."

At the sound of these words, everyone cheered. They had finally been released from that waste land known as the Corel Prison.

"On another note", continued Dio, "I understand that you people did not belong down there in the first place and that you were framed. For that, I apologize to all of you. To…"

"YEAH, YOU BETTER APOLOGIZE, BUDDY!" interrupted Calvin. "YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT WE WENT THROUGH DOWN THERE OR THE PEOPLE WE SAW! AND FOR WHAT? NOTHING! NOTHING, I TELL YOU! DO YOU KNOW THAT…" His sentence was cut short as Cait Sith put his hand over Calvin's mouth.

"Sorry, sir", Cloud spoke, glaring at Calvin at the same time. "Please continue."

"Thank You. As I was saying, to show our sincere apology, we have some gifts for you all to help you on your journey. Now, if you'll follow me to the exit."

Dio led the gang to the exit of the prison where a bag of supplies, such as potions, special remedies and medicines, tents, and even some stronger armor than they had.

"However, these items are not all", Dio stated.

This caused people to think, "What more can these men possibly do for us?" This question was soon answered as Dio held up a key chain with keys on it.

"Ladies and gentlemen…and creatures…on behalf of the Gold Saucer and all of its employees, I would like to present to all of you this brand new car to help you move along on your journey." As he said this, he moved to the right so the people could see the car for themselves. It was bigger than normal cars. It could easily fit all eight of them and it even had room for more people. It had a red color that matched the color of a cherry and tires that could almost be compared to monster truck tires.

Calvin just stood there speechless at the thought they had received all of this because he had won a chocobo race. He started to feel proud of himself and strutted forward to accept the keys.

"Thanks a lot, buddy", he said, taking the keys. "You know, for a man who can't even dress himself, you're an okay person."

"Well, I wish all of you luck on your journey. I hope for your success. Until we meet again, have a safe trip." At these words, Dio and the crew walked off.

Calvin turned around to the crew and asked, "So, where are we going next?" twirling the keys.

"Hold on their, sport", spoke Cloud, taking the keys from Calvin. "I don't think you should be driving yet."

"HEY!" shouted Calvin. "I WON THE RACE! I SHOULD DRIVE! I CAN DRIVE!"

"No, he can't!" Hobbes spoke up, fearing that people might believe him and actually let him drive. "I've still got nine lives and I don't plan on loosing one any time soon!"

"I think Cloud should drive," Tifa suggested.

"I think Cloud should drive." Calvin mimicked, but with his tongue hanging out, insulting Tifa.

Tifa walked up to Calvin with that look in her eyes again. She picked him up by the collar of his shirt and stared into his eyes with a look that could kill even the toughest monster and snarled, "Care to repeat that little comment, kid?"

"I said you talk too much. Let go," Calvin said in a snooty, but tenser voice. This time, he managed to stare right back into her eyes, showing no fear.

Tifa set Calvin down on the ground, but it did not end there. Calvin and Tifa just glared at each other, not saying a word or blinking. After some time, Calvin stuck stick his tongue out at Tifa. Tifa took a step towards Calvin, which caused his to take a step back.

"Knock it of, you two," Aeris pleaded. "We just got out of that dreaded prison. Can't we all just get along for now?"

"Aeris is right," Cloud spoke. "You two are just going to have to learn to get along with each other. Face it; you're stuck with each other until we settle this."

Calvin just groaned at the thought of having to learn to get along with Tifa. He could barely get along with Susie, talk about a girl he hardly knew. But he said, "Fine. But I'm not sitting next to her in the car **I **won!"

"Fine by me," Tifa replied.

"All right, then," Cait Sith spoke, eyeing Tifa and Calvin, "Now that we're all friends again, what say we all continue along with our little journey. After all, we have ourselves a beautiful new car. I say we all should enjoy it."

"I call shotgun," Calvin shouted, running to the passenger side of the car. "If I can't drive my car, then I'll at least get the second best seat of it!"

Everyone agreed with this. They all wanted Calvin somewhere where they could see him. They all climbed into the car. Cait Sith, Red XIII and Barret went to the back seats. Tifa, Hobbes, and Aeris climbed into the middle seats, and Cloud took the driver seat.

Calvin was enjoying messing with the radio, looking for an interesting station to listen to. Red XIII, Cait Sith, and Barret took a nap in the back, and Tifa and Aeris each laid a head on one of Hobbes' shoulders, resting.

"Oh, yeah," Hobbes smiled. "I love being a tiger. Chicks dig a hairy man. Especially when it's fur."

Calvin just glared at Hobbes.

Cloud started the engine and the gang was soon on their way to their next destination.


	6. Calvin and Hobbes vs The Turks

Chapter Six: Calvin and Hobbes versus the Turks

The buggy that the crew was traveling in was indeed very handy equipment. It could cross rivers and it was a lot faster than it would have been if they had to walk. However, one of the downfalls was that it required gas to travel successfully from one place to another. They soon ran out.

"Jeez!" Calvin whined. "You think that Dio guy would have given us some gas to go with the car?"

"Look over there!" Tifa shouted.

The whole gang looked to where Tifa was pointing to see a nearby town. It was surrounded by many trees and it appeared to have a mako reactor off to the side. This, of course, made Barret quiver with anger.

"Think it's got any gas?" Aeris asked in hope.

"There's only one way to know," Cloud stated as he began to drive towards the village.

The buggy was spitting and starting to stall. They had just enough gas to make it to the entrance of the forest.

After they all exited the buggy, Cloud began to take the role of leader.

"Okay, as we all know, we all can't go inside the village at once. We'll have to split up into different groups."

"Um…can I go into the village?" Aeris asked. "There's someone I am hoping to see again."

"Me too," Tifa added in. "I'm going into the village. Plus, I'm going to buy some supplies we could use on our journey."

"All right then," Cloud spoke. "It's settled. Aeris and Tifa will go into the village. But we need someone to go with them to get the gas. Who will it be?"

"I'll do it," Hobbes immediately volunteered.

"Oh, please Hobbes!" Calvin shouted. "You couldn't even carry a chocobo feather with both of your hands talk about some gallons of gas."

"Yes, but we tigers are the fastest creatures on the face of this planet. If I run with the gas, it will seem like it weighs nothing."

"Barret, can you go into the town to get the gas?" Cloud asked.

"I could, but I was hopin I could go see that reactor. I'm hopin the Shinra scum are there so I can continue to take out my anger on them."

Cloud gave a sigh and said, "Fine, I'll go with Tifa and Aeris to get the gas."

Hobbes folded his arms with a look of anger on his face and muttered to himself, 'Lucky bum!'

"Okay, the village party is settled," Cloud continued. "Now, who wants to go with Barret to that reactor?"

"I will!" Calvin shouted.

"Like hell you will, kid!" Barret protested. "I'll take Red XIII and Cait Sith with me to the reactor."

"Well, what about us?" Calvin demanded.

"You and Hobbes can stay here and watch our…I mean…YOUR buggy to make sure no one steals it."

"Hey, why do I have to stay?" Hobbes questioned with a temper in his voice.

Tifa walked up to Hobbes and whispered, "Because you're the only one that can control the little brat."

Hobbes agreed with this statement and asked no more questions. After that, everyone went to their destined areas. Cloud, Aeris, and Tifa went to the village, Barret, Red XIII, and Cait Sith went to the reactor, and Calvin and Hobbes stayed with the buggy.

"I tell you, Hobbes, this stinks. We don't even get to be in the action for the most part."

"You should feel lucky," Hobbes stated. "I mean, you got to be in that race at least. I haven't gotten to do anything yet. Not even squish a little bug."

"That's because you keep eyeing those two girls! It's no wonder Cloud doesn't want you to go with him. He's ashamed of your thoughts of women!"

"I do not," Hobbes lied. "Besides, I didn't have to lie to get in action. At least I have their trust!"

Calvin couldn't argue with this.

"Besides, look at it this way," Hobbes added. "Those guys have things they have to worry about right now. Three of them are going somewhere dangerous just to find treasures. The other three are going to a village and have a lot to focus on. Here we are, sitting here next to a buggy in the great outdoors on this beautiful day."

"Yeah? So?"

"I think it's moments like this we should cherish because it's one of those moments where we don't have to worry about anything and we have a chance to enjoy what a beautiful day it is."

Calvin just sat there in silence, thinking about what Hobbes just said. He looked up at the sky. It was clear and blue without a single cloud in the sky. The wind was a perfect temperature. Not too hot or too cold, but just right. Plus, the woods they were in were beautiful. He got thinking had he gone with one of the two parties, he wouldn't have noticed what a beautiful day it was.

"I guess so," Calvin replied after a minute of silence. "But still, I think it stinks we haven't been let in on any action yet."

An hour passed and no one had returned from their destined areas yet. Calvin and Hobbes had started to become impatient from having no action. Soon, they started to walk down a path to stretch their legs.

"I wonder what's taking them so long," Hobbes pondered.

"Well," Calvin started. "Tifa said she was shopping. Enough said. Aeris said she wanted to visit a friend. That's also enough said. Cloud's probably having trouble with the gas. As for Barret and the others, I don't know. Oh, I wish I could've gone with Barret!"

At that moment, there was a rustle in some nearby bushes. Calvin and Hobbes started to become nervous.

"What do you think's in there?" Hobbes asked in a nervous voice.

"Probably some deranged monster that's waiting to pounce us and such our blood for food. Gross!"

At that moment, a figure jumped out of the bushes. However, it was no deranged monster. Instead, it was a little frog.

""Some monster," Hobbes said sarcastically to Calvin. "I soiled myself I became so scared."

"I admit, I'm disappointed," Calvin replied.

He then walked up to the frog and picked it up.

"You're just an innocent little guy, aren't ya," Calvin provoked. "I bet Susie would be frightened of you! But then again, that's only with the big frogs. You're just a little thing. You're not that scary."

At that moment, the frog gave Calvin an evil look. To Calvin's surprise, it rose its foot and slapped Calvin in the face. When that happened, there was a small poof and Calvin was gone.

"Calvin?" Hobbes asked in a nervous voice. "Where'd you go?"

At that moment, Hobbes heard shouting where Calvin was standing.

"HEY! WHAT'D YOU DO TO ME? YOU STUPID FROG! I OUGHTA…"

Hobbes looked to where the frog was and saw another frog. But this frog had yellow-spiky hair and was shouting to the other frog. It was Calvin.

At that moment, Calvin pounced the other frog and started to wrestle with it. Calvin was strangling the frog, demanding that it change him back to a human. However, Calvin accidentally strangled the frog too long, for it soon fell dead due to a lack of air. Therefore, it could not change Calvin back.

Calvin hopped up to Hobbes, angrier than ever before.

"Quick, Einstein, how do I change back to a human?"

"How should I know?"

"I thought you said that tigers were the smartest creatures on this planet!"

"We are," Hobbes replied, looking proud of this fact. "However, I never said we knew everything. This is one of those things tigers don't know."

By now, Calvin was literally jumping with fury. He didn't want to stay like this forever and he wasn't going to let it happen like that either. Quickly, he started hopping back to the buggy, hoping someone would be there with a cure. Hobbes followed.

"Stupid frog," Calvin grumbled. "Why couldn't have Cloud or Barret let me come with them and let someone else watch the buggy? This is their fault!"

"Well, you shouldn't have touched that frog," Hobbes reminded him.

"How was I supposed to know that frog was possessed? Do I look like the kind of guy that likes to pay attention in school?"

"Hey, who are those people?" Hobbes asked, pointing back to the buggy.

Calvin looked at the buggy to see three people in blue suits standing there, talking about something. One had reddish-hair and looked like a guy that would slit a throat for a nickel. The other guy didn't look much better. He had no hair and a tan to his skin. He looked like he had visited a gym more than once. The final person was a girl with blond hair. She didn't look as threatening as the other two, but that didn't shock Calvin at all. They were leaning against the buggy, as if they were waiting for someone. Maybe them.

"Do you suppose they're waiting for us?" Hobbes asked in a cautious voice.

"I don't care as long as they have a cure for this mess," Calvin responded as he started hopping over to the individuals. Hobbes tried to stop him because he had a bad feeling about those people, but he couldn't stop Calvin.

Meanwhile, the three individuals were talking about who they liked.

"So, Rude, who do you like?" the red-haired man asked the bald man.

Calvin was about to get their attention when he heard the name, "Tifa." Calvin stopped dead in is tracks. 'How does he know Tifa? And why the heck would he like a demon like her?'

"Really?" the red haired man asked in shock. "I thought you liked Elena," he said pointing over to where the blonde-haired woman was standing.

"Ah, she likes Tseng." Rude replied. "You should know that better than any of us Reno."

"Yeah, but Tseng likes that ancient and the ancient likes Cloud, I think. Wouldn't it be amazing if Cloud liked Tifa?"

By now, Calvin was freaked out by these men. How did they know Cloud, Tifa, and Aeris? If they knew those three, did they know about him and the others? He was about to hop away when a pair of hands grabbed a hold of him. He turned to see that it was Elena.

"Well look what I found. I bet you think I'm scared of you because I'm a girl, right?"

"That's the idea, lady!" Calvin replied.

With those words, Elena shrieked and dropped Calvin. She immediately ran to Reno and Rude.

"Guys! There's a frog over there that's possessed or something! It just talked to me!"

Reno and Rude looked at each other with looks of confusion on their faces.

"Elena," Reno finally spoke. "Maybe you need a vacation."

"You've got to believe me! He's right over there!"

With this thought, Calvin had an idea. He hopped up to where the three were standing. When Elena saw him, she immediately started freaking out.

"That's the frog!" She shrieked. "The one that can talk!"

Reno and Rude just looked at Calvin and started laughing.

"I guess even tough women are scared of frogs, huh Elena?" Rude teased.

Calvin then started to talk in a spooky voice. "I am the demon of, uh, the planet, um…Spiff! Yes! A demon from Spiff! You will obey my orders or else pay the consequences!"

As expected, a look of shock came over the faces of Reno and Rude. Elena's face was white by now. Calvin was laughing to himself at this appearance, until Reno walked up to him and picked him up.

"I bet I know what this 'demon' is," he said as he pulled something out of his pocket. He then sprinkled a powder over Calvin and put him on the ground. In a few seconds, another poof sounded and Calvin was a human again.

By now, Calvin was freaked out. Here he was, alone in front of three tough-looking people. And he had just fooled with them.

"Elena, you are such a rookie," Reno criticized. "A maiden's kiss reveals the true form of any talking frog."

"You mean that stuff was a maiden's kiss?" Calvin asked in shock. "EWWW! YUCK! I'M THE DICTATOR OF LIFE IN THE GET RID OF SLIMY GIRLS CLUB! MY REPUTATION! MY LOYALTY! RUINED!"

"What an annoying kid," Rude whispered to Reno and Elena.

"Wait a minute," Elena spoke. "An annoying, loud kid; red shirt with stripes; black pants…he fits the description he gave us."

"So, this kid is with Cloud?" Reno questioned. "Man, he wasn't joking about him being annoying.

"What are you talking about?" Calvin asked them.

"See, kid," Reno spoke. "Our mission here is to take out Cloud and all of his friends. Since you're the only one here, I guess that means that we start with you."

Calvin was literally too scared at this point to stand on his own two feet. His knees were shaking so badly, he fell over.

"Turks, attack!" Reno shouted as they started to walk up to Calvin.

They were almost up to Calvin when an orange blaze whirred by, taking Elena with it. Reno and Rude were shocked at what just happened. They turned in the direction the blaze had gone. As they looked, they saw a ditch that had just been dug that had stretched for nearly ten yards. At the end of the ditch, an orange figure climbed out of the ditch.

"Whoo-hoo! That was a good one! Look how far I landed!" Hobbes shouted in joy.

"Tall tiger that seems energetic about everything…that's the tiger that is with Cloud!" Reno exclaimed. "OW"

At that moment, Calvin had thrown a rock at Reno and made an attempt to run, but Reno pulled out his weapon and tripped Calvin with it.

"You're not going anywhere, kid," Reno shouted.

Quickly, Calvin grabbed another rock and was ready to throw it when he noticed it was glowing. He looked at it again and noticed that it was a yellow gem. He could feel a strange power within it.

Reno then picked up Calvin and was starting him right in the eye.

"Any last wishes, kid?"

"Just one…LOOK BEHIND YOU!"

At those words, Hobbes bit Reno in the leg. Reno yelped in pain and dropped Calvin. Now, Reno and Rude were running after Hobbes, who was laughing as all three Turks were chasing him around.

Calvin caught his breath and went back to the gem. He knew it had a special power within it. He just didn't know what. He then remembered something Cloud had told him in the buggy about materia. Materia was magic or special powers that resided in certain gems. This must have been one of those gems. "Calvin immediately grabbed his dart gun and saw materia slots. He quickly equipped it. He knew Hobbes would be needing help soon.

Meanwhile, the Turks were chasing Hobbes up a tree. Hobbes was many yards ahead of them and was eating an apple, waiting for the Turks to even get passed the next set of branches.

"Just wait until we get you, tiger!" Elena taunted. "We're gonna turn you into dog food when we're done with you!"

"Yeah? Well, let me know when you get up here," Hobbes taunted, relaxing in his branch.

"Why you…" Elena was about to swear when something gave a loud bang and snapped the branch the Turks were on. All the Turks fell to the ground. Hobbes was even shocked at this sound.

Everyone looked where the bullet had come from. They saw Calvin standing there with a look that even scared the Turks. He was clenching his dart gun, which was smoking from the shot.

"Feel lucky punks?" Calvin asked in his best Clint Eastwood voice.

"Why you little brat!" Elena shouted.

She started running for him when Calvin shot another dart. The dart, though, had extra speed, power, and velocity behind it. When it hit Elena, it sent her flying into a nearby tree. Not only was she in pain, but she looked like a fool with the dart stuck on her forehead.

Reno and rude gave a look of fear as Calvin pointed the gun towards them. They immediately helped Elena up and started walking away.

"We'll be back to get you guys!" Reno shouted back to Calvin. "Don't think you've seen the last of us!" With those words, they left.

Hobbes had jumped down from the tree in shock. He had never seen a dart that powerful before.

"How'd you do that?" he demanded.

Calvin pulled out the materia that was in his dart gun and explained how it gave his gun extra power.

"I found it when I was running from the Turks. I felt this power within it and…"

"Used a death blow attack," a voice said from behind them.

Calvin and Hobbes turned around to see cloud and the others standing there. Apparently, they had been standing there the whole time, watching Calvin and Hobbes fight the Turks.

"I have to admit, kid, I thought we were gonna have to step in and help ya," Barret stated. "To be honest, I'm shocked you two took out the Turks. They're a bunch of murderers, they are. I guess we misjudged ya both."

"Hey, forget about it," Hobbes replied.

"Tee-hee. That was funny when you jumped Elena," Aeris giggled.

Hobbes blushed at this compliment.

"I wonder, though," Cloud spoke. "How'd those Turks know we were here?"

"They couldn't have known," Tifa added. "Unless…"

"A spy?" Red XIII asked.


	7. There is a Limit

Chapter Seven: The limits have been reached

"There couldn't be," Aeris finally said after a brief moment of silence. "I mean, there's no way that someone could be sneaking up on us after we've gotten this far."

"She's right," Barret said. "In order for anyone to be giving away information on us and our exact location, that person would have to be…"

"Don't go there!" Cloud shouted. "I don't even want to think about that! I trust everyone in this group!"

"Well, I don't," Tifa spoke, looking at Calvin. "After all, we did start to experience some trouble after someone joined us."

"WHAT'S THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?" Calvin demanded. "Are you implying that I'm a traitor?"

"The shoe fits, doesn't it? I mean, we're thrown into the Corel Prison because you two showed up! Immediately after that, you ask to join us and you hadn't even known our story or our purpose. That sounds like a spy to me!" Tifa shouted.

"Lady, that was the first time Hobbes or I had even met the Turks or anyone from Shinra at that!" Calvin replied.

"And besides, if we were working with Shinra and we were spies, then why did the Turks try to kill us? I mean, they wouldn't want their own workers dead, would they?" Hobbes added in a calmer voice.

"Simply an act to throw us off," Tifa responded. "I mean, how could a kid and a tiger that cries for mercy from a man that isn't even going to hurt him? It doesn't make sense. If they really wanted to kill you two, they could have done it easily. Instead, they must have faked being scared of them and left so they could continue to spy on us! That has to be it!"

"LADY, I THINK YOU MAY HAVE ONE TOO MANY SCREWS IN YOUR HEAD LOOSE!" Calvin shouted. "WE…"

At that moment, everyone heard a noise from behind the bushes. It wasn't very big, but they still prepared themselves for anything.

Red XIII walked up slowly to the bushes and began to sniff them. Hobbes came and started to do the same thing. Soon, Red XIII started to sneeze hard. Hobbes did too.

"What's the matter?" Aeris asked in an anxious voice.

"There ith thomething in the butheth that ith making uth thneeze," Red XIII said, sniffling.

"I hate hay allergieth…I really do," Hobbes added, blowing his nose.

Barret walked up to the bushes to see what it was that was making Hobbes and Red XIII sneeze so hard. As he pulled the bushes back, a small flower pounced out and stood in front of the party. Its leaves were up as if it wanted to box one of them.

"This is it?" Calvin asked. "This is what we were so worked up about?"

"Fer once, I agree with the kid," Barret said in an insulting manner towards the plant. He then closed his eyes and started to say some words to himself. Soon, Barret was surrounded in green light. Then, he stepped back and…"FIRE!"

A small blaze appeared out of nowhere and surrounded the plant. The plant shrieked in pain and fell to the ground.

Calvin was shocked at what he had just seen.

"HOW DID YOU DO THAT?"

"Do what?" Barret asked.

"YOU KNOW…THAT FIRE! IT JUST CAME OUT OF NOWHERE! HOW DID YOU DO THAT?"

"Materia," Cloud answered.

"What'th materia?" Hobbes asked, still blowing his nose.

"Materia are little orbs that contain magical powers and have the ability to bless the barer with special powers. That was a magic orb. It contained the magic powers of fire."

"Orbs? You mean these?" Calvin asked, pulling out the yellow gem he had picked up earlier.

"Where'd you get that?" Cloud asked, looking at it.

"I found it on the ground when I was fighting the Turks. I saw that it fit in my dart gun here, so I put it in and when I fired a dart at the Turks, it seemed to have more power behind it. Did that orb do that?"

"It appears so," Aeris replied, looking at the orb. "Judging by the air around it, I'd say that this materia increases the attack of a weapon, or as people call it, deathblow materia."

"Cool," Calvin said with a dreamy look on his face.

At that moment, the plant Barret had just 'fired' began to shake violently. It then started to grow. Soon, it was twice its normal size and it appeared stronger than before.

Calvin immediately grabbed his dart gun with the deathblow materia and fired three powerful shots at the plant. Each shot met the target and it appeared that it had weakened the plant greatly. Barret used another fire spell, but it was stronger than the one he had used before. It was a fire level two attack. Again, the plant fell to the ground.

"Nice shot, kid," Barret shouted. "However, ya ain't as good as I am." With these words, he took a few shots at the plant with his gun arm.

It was at that moment that the plant began to shake even harder than before. As it rose, it started to grow vines where a human would normally have arms and legs. Also, it started to develop a humongous body. It was now as tall as a tree and weighed about as much as one, too.

"Oh my go…AN OCHO!" Barret shouted with a look of fear on his face.

"What's an Ocho?" Hobbes asked, not taking his eyes off the huge plant.

"One of the most deadly creatures alive. They'll paralyze you and then kill you slowly. Very dangerous," Cloud replied.

At that moment, the Ocho released a powder that was headed right for everyone. Cloud grabbed a hold of Tifa and Cloud and pulled them down before the powder got to them. He made sure they held their breaths and held his own.

"If you breathe that stuff in," Cloud started, gasping for air, "You'll fall asleep and become easy prey for the Ocho."

At that moment, they noticed that Aeris, Red XIII, Barret, and Cait Sith were asleep. The powder had gotten them.

The Ocho was starting to make its way towards the sleeping victims.

"You two stay here," Cloud ordered.

He then pulled out his sword and started charging towards the creature. As the Ocho was about to grab Aeris, could struck it with his gigantic sword. The Ocho screamed in pain and turned to Cloud. Cloud was in battle stance. The Ocho took a swing at him, but missed. At that moment, Cloud was surrounded by a green light and the level two fire spell was unleashed. Again, the Ocho shrieked in pain but still did not go down. Cloud was about to charge again, when out of nowhere, the Ocho released the powder again. This time, it got Cloud and Cloud had fallen asleep.

"Oh…no…CLOUD, NO!" Tifa shouted, jumping up to help him.

The Ocho was going to grab Cloud when a bright red light came from behind it. The Ocho turned around to see that Hobbes was on all four legs and looked very angry.

"You…will…not…HURT MY FRIENDS!" he shouted and jumped at a high speed towards the Ocho, muck like he had Elena. Hobbes nailed the Ocho with high impact and both of them went flying a distance. When they landed on the ground, Hobbes had made another path that had dug into the earth that went on for yards and yards.

"W-W-What did Hobbes just do?" Calvin asked, shocked about the red light that gave Hobbes extra power.

"Limit Breaks," Tifa replied. "They are special powers held inside of people when their anger has reached a certain level. Only certain fighters are blessed with those powers. It appears your friend is one of those fighters blessed with the gift of the limit break."

At that moment, Hobbes had climbed out of the tunnel he had just created after pouncing the Ocho. He was filthy, but looked proud of the ditch he had just created during the pounce.

"Whoo-hoo!" he began to boast. "Look at the size of this one! It's even bigger than the last one! I'm having good luck with my pounces today!"

At that moment, the Ocho climbed out of the path, weakened by the attack, but still deadly. Hobbes turned around just in time to see the Ocho raise one of its tentacles and swipe it at Hobbes. Hobbes barely jumped out of the way. He was starting to tease the Ocho by treating its tentacle swings like jump rope. Every time one of the tentacles came down, Hobbes would jump over it.

"Tuna fish! Tuna fish! In a can! How many cans can a tiger have? One! Two! Three!" Hobbes began to sing while jumping over the tentacles.

The Ocho became very angry and irritated with Hobbes and his mocking ways. At that moment, it took both tentacles and swung them towards Hobbes as hard as it could. Both tentacles struck Hobbes and made a very loud snapping noise, almost like a whip. Hobbes went flying and landed twenty feet away from the Ocho. He was still alive, but appeared to be still.

"HOBBES!" Calvin shouted in a worried manner. "WHAT'S WRONG WITH HIM!"

"Paralyzed," Tifa replied. "The tentacle of an Ocho is so powerful when it's used as a whip that it causes a great deal of pain to whomever it strikes. Due to the amount of pain, the person is literally stunned and paralyzed for a few minutes."

At that moment, the Ocho started walking towards Hobbes. Hobbes just looked at it and winced in pain. It was all he could do at the moment.

Calvin frantically tried to fire dart shots at it with the deathblow materia equipped. However, the Ocho continued to walk on as if it didn't even feel the effects of the attack.

"Hobbes! Move!" Calvin began to plead.

Hobbes did not move as the Ocho began to close in on him.

"Move, you idiot!" He yelled again, sounding angrier.

By now, the Ocho was only a few feet away from him.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Calvin yelled at the top of his lungs.

As he yelled this, he was surrounded by the red light that had surrounded Hobbes earlier. Only this time, the red light covered Calvin after some time. It began to lift Calvin in the air and was affecting his body in an unusual way. After a minute of this, he landed back on the ground and the glowing stopped.

"Calvin?" Tifa asked in a concerned voice.

When Calvin sat up though, he looked different. Instead of wearing a red shirt and black pants, he was wearing a brown leather jacket that went from his chest to his feet. He also had a cowboy hat on and a cigarette in his mouth. When he spoke, his voice was different too.

"Tracer Bullet, mam," he said to Tifa, holding out a badge. "I'm a private eye. Someone called me about an Ocho problem in the vicinity. Can you pinpoint me to the over-sized plant?"

The Ocho had noticed Calvin transforming and had stopped approaching Hobbes. It was looking at the new figure of Calvin strangely.

Calvin turned around and saw the Ocho. He pulled his cigarette out of his mouth and began to speak.

"This psychotic plant either is upset about the fact that a drought is in effect in the area and decided to take its rage out on these locals or it wants to kill them. Either way, I'm going to put a stop to you."

The Ocho let out a huge roar and began to charge towards the transformed Calvin.

Calvin just stood there calmly, awaiting the arrival of the Ocho.

"Let me introduce you to a friend of mine that's close to my heart…three inches to the right of it to be precise," Calvin said, reaching into his coat. Calvin pulled out a gun. It wasn't like the dart gun he had earlier. It was a real gun. He then took three shots at the Ocho. All three shots me their target and the Ocho screamed out in pain.

Tifa just stood there in shock at what she was seeing. She would have never guessed that Calvin was a warrior gifted with the limit breaks. Not only was she shocked that Calvin had limit breaks, but she was socked that the limit be bestowed was so powerful. The Tracer Bullet figure was more mature, serious, powerful, and…she hated to admit it…but cute.

The Ocho was shaking off the effects of the bullet attack and started charging for Calvin again.

"Let me tell you about the two things I own," Calvin said, pulling something else out of his pocket. 'The first is my gun and I keep it loaded. The second is this." He pulled out a bottle of what appeared to be whisky. "It's rum and it keeps me loaded. But for you, I think you need it more."

By now, the Ocho was in front of him. It was lifting one of its tentacles to strike Calvin when he took a drink of the whisky and pulled out a match. He quickly lit the match and spit the whisky in his mouth at the lit match in front of him. This caused the alcoholic beverage to catch fire and the fire spread onto the Ocho. This time, the fire attack stayed on the Ocho and it started to burn up.

The Ocho ran around and was screaming in pain. The screaming had awaken the others who had fallen asleep and were amazed that the Ocho was burning. After a few minutes, the Ocho collapsed as the fire consumed the corpse. The threat was finally over.

"I guess his mommy never told him about the stop, drop, and roll technique…lucky for me." Calvin stated.

Tifa walked up to Calvin and was looking at him with a sense of curiosity in her head. She began to touch Calvin's face as if she were wondering if the real Calvin as still there.

"You're the pushy type of dame, aren't you?" Calvin asked. "The kind who'd break a heart…or an arm, maybe. Can I help you?"

Tifa began to melt at these words. For some out of reason, she was attracted to the Tracer Bullet character. At that moment, the red light surrounded Calvin again and transformed him back into his regular self.

"Wha…EWWW! A GIRL TOUCHED ME! FIND SOME WATER!"

It was official. Calvin was back to himself and was just as he was when he transformed.


	8. It Was a Funny Accident

Chapter Eight: The breakdown

"How is it that you two have the power of limit breaks?" Cloud asked in astonishment.

"I…I don't know," Hobbes replied. "What is a limit break?"

"A limit break," Aeris explained, "is when a person unleashes all of his or her anger and fury at once so they can perform powerful attacks and spells on enemies or to help allies a great deal. One knows when a limit is being unleashed when a red light surrounds a body. That's the anger being unleashed and that's what gives one powers."

"I'm with Cloud," Tifa added. "I don't mean any offense to you two, but I don't understand how your anger can become a limit break. You both seem so…well…harmless."

"Well," Calvin replied, flexing his muscles, "you know what they say about judging a book by its cover."

"Plus, we tigers are known for our strength," Hobbes added, looking proud with himself.

"Never mind," Cait Sith replied. "The important thing is that the Ocho is dead. Now, we can continue because we have our gas and we trust one another, right?"

"I guess yer right," Barret said, filling the buggy up with gas.

"Well, since you two know limit breaks and have proven to be quite the fighters," Cloud spoke again. "I think it's best if we teach you two how to use magic materia while we're waiting for Barret to fill up the buggy." With those words, he pulled out a green orb that looked like the yellow one Calvin had found.

"Green materia," Cloud began, "is necessary if you want to survive in a fight. Materia possesses powers that are bestowed by Ancients many years ago. If it weren't for those people, we may never have known of the special powers that all materia posses."

"You mean like my deathblow materia?" Calvin asked, pulling out the yellow orb he found.

"Right, except yellow materia does not posses the powers of magic. Instead, they give you special abilities throughout battle." He then pulled out another yellow gem from his pocket. "This materia enables me to sense my enemies. It tells me how strong they are, their magic strength, and what they are strong and weak against. It's called Sense materia."

Calvin and Hobbes just stared at the yellow gem in awe.

"Materia can do that?" Hobbes asked in amazement.

"Yes. And if you're shocked by what yellow materia can do, wait until you get a load of the green materia."

Cloud walked up to Calvin and Hobbes and handed them each a green orb.

"How do we know what type of materia it is?" Calvin asked.

"I can answer that," Aeris said. "Close your eyes and you will hear the planet and the Cetra explain to you what type of materia it is."

Calvin and Hobbes obeyed. As Calvin closed his eyes, he heard voices going through his head much like the ones that had earlier explaining the deathblow materia. Instead, Calvin heard voices saying to him, "Flames! Heat! Fire! Fire!"

"Fire materia, right?" Calvin asked, handing the orb to Aeris to check.

"Right," Aeris said instantly, without closing her eyes.

"And mine is earth," Hobbes responded, handing the orb to Aeris to check as well. Aeris nodded to Hobbes, meaning that he was right.

"WAY COOL!" Calvin shouted in excitement. "I heard all these voices going through my head. How about you, Hobbes?"

"I heard them too. Amazing! I heard things like, 'Quake! Rock! Mother Earth! Earth!'"

"Let me finish this lesson quickly, you two," Cloud interrupted. "Now, to use the materia, you need to put it in your weapons. Your weapons should have slots like this," Cloud said, showing his sword and the materia slots in the handles.

"I have those," Calvin said, showing his gun and the slots with his deathblow materia equipped.

"Um…I have a problem there," Hobbes interrupted. "I don't have a weapon."

"I can fix that," Tifa said, handing Hobbes a pair of one of her fighting gloves. These gloves had claws coming out from them. "They're the tiger claws. I thought you would like them."

Hobbes smiled brightly at the name and immediately slipped them on. "Anything with the word tiger in it has got to be top quality material," he said, looking proud with his new gloves. Plus, he now had materia slots.

"To equip the materia," Cloud continued, "simply put the materia in one of the slots and that's it. I'll teach you how to use it later. Here, let me give you guys some more."

"Maybe that's not such a good idea," Aeris interrupted. "They've never used magic before and it can take a lot out of someone if they overuse it."

"Relax," Cloud assured. "I'm only going to give them two more each. When they learn how to handle it, we'll give them more. Plus, we'll give them amulets and accessories later as well."

"Accessories and amulets?" Calvin and Hobbes both asked at the same time. Hobbes got the jinx in and told Calvin he owed him tuna. Calvin just grumbled.

"They give you extra strength and special immunities throughout battle. I'll give you some when we make our next stop."

He then handed Calvin and Hobbes two more green materia orbs. Calvin and Hobbes identified them before equipping them to their weapons.

"I got a lightning materia and a cure," Calvin stated. "What do you have, Hobbes?"

"I got ice and a cure also."

"WAY COOL!" Calvin shouted again. "I can't wait to try these new powers out in battle!"

"Come on, you two," Cait Sith shouted merrily. "The buggy's full on gas and we're ready to go!"

Calvin and Hobbes raced back to the buggy. "SHOTGUN!" Calvin shouted.

"Um, Calvin," Cloud interrupted, "can you let Aeris sit up front?"

Calvin looked over to Aeris and noticed that she looked a little teary. Something was obviously bugging her. Calvin agreed and sat next to Hobbes in the middle seat. Soon, they were on their way.

Red XIII and Cait Sith shared the usual back seat of the buggy. Barret and Tifa shared the third seats, and Calvin and Hobbes shared the second seat, right behind the driver's seat and the front passenger's seat, where Cloud and Aeris were.

"What's wrong with Aeris," Hobbes asked Tifa, noticing that she was teary.

"Remember when she said that she wanted to visit someone in the village?"

"Yeah, I do."

"She just found out that he died a few years ago and she's pretty shaken up over it."

"Oh." Hobbes felt sorry for her and wanted to do something for her to make her feel better. "When we make our next stop, I'll snuggle next to her," Hobbes finally said. "When we tigers snuggle, it's the next best thing in the world."

"What's the best thing in the world, then?" Tifa asked curiously.

"Getting a kiss on the cheek!" Hobbes replied, smiling from ear to ear at the thought.

"Hobbes, I don't mind if you snuggle with Aeris to make her feel better, but you will NOT GET KISSED OR YOU'RE OUT OF G.R.O.S.S." Calvin reminded in a threatening voice.

Tifa just laughed and started to go to sleep on Barret's lap.

Hours had passed and everyone had pretty much fallen asleep. The only three that were still awake were Barret, Calvin, and Hobbes. Cloud had asked Barret to take over the driving because he was getting tired. Calvin and Hobbes were pulling materia orbs out of Cloud's bag and closing their eyes to determine what type of materia they were.

"I got another ice!" Calvin would say.

"I found the sense Cloud was talking about," Hobbes said at one point.

"What the heck is all materia?"

"Long Range? What does this do, I wonder?"

"Ifrit? What the heck is Ifrit? Is that some kind of alien?"

"All right, you two," Barret spoke after awhile. "I need you two to keep it down a little. We're approaching mountains and I need to drive through them to get across. I need full concentration."

Calvin and Hobbes agreed to this and put the materia away. They then sat still for a few minutes. However, tigers and little boys tend to get bored when they just sit still and do nothing.

After ten minutes of just sitting still, Hobbes had had enough. He had to do something. He noticed that Calvin was still looking forward, doing nothing. He had an idea. He got close to Calvin's face and pulled his lips apart from each other and stuck his tongue out at him.

Calvin started to break out laughing, but tried to keep it quiet. "Shhh! snicker Quiet. giggle you heard Barret."

However, Calvin was amused by this face contest that Hobbes had brought about. He made one to. He pulled his nose down as far as he could, stretched his eyes as far open as he could and showed his upper teeth. Hobbes started snickering as well.

" snort hee hee we're gonna get in trouble," Hobbes said, trying not to laugh hard.

Hobbes decided to retaliate with a monkey face. He puffed his cheeks, pulled his ears to his side, stuck his tongue out, and crossed his eyes.

Calvin was doing all he could not to laugh out loud. " Tch! Hee Hee! Shhh! giggle! "

Soon, both of them were making faces at the same time and they could not control themselves. They burst out laughing as loud as they could. This, of course, upset Barret. He turned around and shouted with an extremely angry face, "HEY! I THOUGHT I SAID I WANTED IT QUIET BACK THERE!"

Calvin and Hobbes stopped laughing immediately. Barret's face had turned from black to purple. His eyes looked like there was fire in them. He looked like he almost wanted to kill Calvin and Hobbes.

"S-S-Sorry, Barret," Hobbes said weakly.

"We were having a weird face contest," Calvin explained. "But we're done now." He almost didn't say what he was about to say next, but he could not stop himself. "You won, Barret. I could never make a face like that." With that comment, Calvin and Hobbes started snickering.

Barret just gave a huff and turned around, but one second too late. He did not realize while he was shouting that he was heading right for the wall of a canyon. He tried to slam the breaks, but the buggy was already too close. It hit the stone wall with full impact. Hobbes flew to the front seat from the impact and Calvin was thrown from his seat to the ground. Red XIII and Cait Sith flew up to the second seats, and Cloud and Tifa experienced whiplash for the first time in their lives. Barret's head had smashed into the steering wheel, breaking the steering wheel. Aeris was jolted awake from the impact and also got whiplash.

"Is everyone all right?" Cait Sith asked concernedly.

"I'm fine," Barret replied, rubbing his head. "It's a good thing the damn steering wheel is covered in carpet."

"We're fine back here," Cloud replied, helping Tifa back to her feet.

Aeris was rubbing her neck and upper spine. Other than a great amount of pain, she seemed to be okay.

Calvin got back to his feet and Hobbes crawled to the back seat. He appeared to have been knocked senseless, but was okay.

"Should have buckled up," Calvin heard Hobbes mumbled to himself.

Red XIII and Cait Sith we're also a little dazed, but all right. Everyone had escaped the accident with minor bruises and no serious injuries.

Everyone got out of the buggy and examined the buggy. It looked like it had just gone through a car cruncher. The front of the car was where the driver's seat should be and the driver's seat was almost crunched to the middle seats. Had Barret not turned around and started slamming the breaks when he did, there may have been some deaths.

"Well, that thing's not going to be starting back up any time soon," Calvin said, examining what was left of the hood.

"How much do you think a car like this would cost?" Hobbes asked. "I bet at least seventy-five dollars."

"Now, what are we going to do?" Tifa asked in rage. "There are rivers that we could never cross without the buggy!"

"Calm down, Tifa. I'm sure we'll find a way somehow?" Cait Sith reassured. "Right Red XIII?"

However, Red XIII was not paying any attention. He was looking off to the distance. Cait Sith looked in the same direction and saw what looked like a village at the top of the mountains. Red XIII wasn't taking his eyes off of it.

"Why you lookin at the village, Red?" Barret asked, noticing the village.

"…grandpa…" was the only word that came out of Red XIII's mouth.


	9. A Meeting at Cosmo Canyon

Chapter Nine: A Meeting at Cosmo Canyon

"Grandpa? That's a random thing to say," Barret chuckled.

Red XIII, however, did not take his eyes off of the town that was on top of the mountain. As everyone got a better look of the expression on his face, they could see that they were almost like the eyes of a puppy. In fact, it looked like they were tearing up a little bit.

"GRANDFATHER!" Red XIII repeated in an excited voice and started racing off towards the village.

"What's his problem?" Calvin asked aloud.

"Wait a sec," Barret interrupted. "I remember when we were locked up in Shinra headquarters; Red said something about his grandpa."

"You don't think?" Aeris asked in a hopeful voice.

With that question, everyone started running off after Red towards the village. The village was located on top of a canyon and looked very small compared to some of the villages they had seen in the past. As they approached the village, they could see a large telescope at the very top of the largest hill that was in the village. The hill looked like the residents had turned it into a pathway to lead up to the telescope. Near the middle of the town, there was a roaring fire that some people were gathered around. It looked like they were talking about different things.

Finally, they reached the entrance of the town. It was a staircase that led to the top of the canyon, where the village was. Cloud went up first, followed by Barret, then Aeris, then Tifa, then Cait Sith, and finally, Calvin and Hobbes. When Cloud reached the top, though, there were guards standing at the entrance. When Cloud approached, the guards stood in his way.

"NO OUTSIDERS!" one of them shouted in his face.

"Listen," Cloud said calmly, "A friend of ours may have entered this village and we're kind of worried about the way he was acting. We must see him and…"

"SILENCE!" the other guard shouted. "IF YOU KNOW WHAT'S GOOD FOR YOU. YOU AND YOUR FRIENDS WILL…"

He stopped speaking when his eyes caught his friends. He moved around Cloud, passed Barret, Tifa, Aeris, and Cait Sith and came up to Hobbes. He was looking at him in an unusual way.

"Master Hobbes? Is that you?"

"Beg pardon?" Hobbes asked. "How do you know me?"

"Everyone here in Cosmo Canyon knows your name, Hobbes. Why, it's a legendary name that every household knows of." He then turned around and shouted to the other guard, "Hey, it's Hobbes! He's finally returned!"

With these words, the other guard immediately ran up to Hobbes and started looking at him.

"Well, I'll be," he stated. "It IS him! He's finally returned after all these years! Bugenhagen will be most pleased to see you again!"

"Who?" Hobbes asked, now more confused than before.

"Of course," the guard chuckled. "You wouldn't remember. Why, you were only a cub when it happened. Well, Bugenhagen will fill you in on all the details. Please, come with us."

"Hobbes, what the heck is he talking about?" Calvin asked with a look of confusion and shock on his face.

"I have no idea," Hobbes replied as the guards started to take him into the village.

Cloud started to follow, but the guards turned around and shouted, "STAY THERE! OUTSIDERS ARE NOT ALLOWED!"

"Excuse me," Hobbes demanded, wrestling free from the guards grips. "But those are my friends. If they can't enter, then I don't enter!"

With those words, the guards huddled and began to whisper. They were talking about whether they should let them in or not. It was obvious they seemed a little apprehensive about letting outsiders into the village.

After a minute of negotiating, the guards agreed to let Cloud and the others into the village. When they entered, Cloud began to take the role of leader again.

"All right, everyone. It's obvious that these people don't want us here, so let's be careful about what we do."

"Say, Hobbes, how come all these people know who you are?" Tifa asked.

"I can't answer that question for the life of me," Hobbes replied.

"Maybe that Bugen whatever can answer that question," Calvin responded.

"By the way, which way did Red XIII go?" Cloud asked in a concerned voice.

"CLOUD!" A voice from the path that led to the top of the canyon shouted. Everyone turned to see Red XIII standing there. "Come with me," he continued. "I need you to meet my grandfather! Just follow me!" With those words, he disappeared into the tunnel that led to the top of the canyon.

"Well," Cloud said in his leadership voice again, "I guess this means that I go up to meet his grandfather. What are you guys going to do?"

"I'm gonna look fer someone to fix up th' buggy," Barret said. "I feel kinda responsible fer what happened."

"Me too," Calvin and Hobbes said at the same time.

"Okay," Cloud replied. "Barret, you look for someone to fix up the buggy. Everyone else…I guess you can look around for a little bit until I say otherwise."

With those words, everyone took off in their own direction. Cloud followed the path that Red XIII had taken, Barret walked up to a group of people that looked like they were mechanics of some sort, and everyone else just went into a tunnel, except for Calvin and Hobbes.

Instead, they walked up to a house that was on top of a smaller canyon. It almost looked like a tree house with the ladder leading up to it and everything.

"Think we should go up?" Hobbes asked.

"Why not?" Calvin replied. "After all, it doesn't look dangerous. In fact, it just looks like an inn or something like that. What's the harm?"

Hobbes felt somewhat foolish with this statement. Now that he took a better look at it, it did look like it was an inn of some kind.

"Besides," Calvin continued, "people treat you like a celebrity here. They definitely won't mind if you come."

"That's something that's been on my mind ever since we got here. How do all these people know me and what did I do to become so popular?"

"I don't know?" Calvin replied. "Why don't you stop thinking about it for a little bit. I know something that will."

With those words, he pulled some things out of his backpack. One appeared to be a large banner with a skull in the middle of it and words on it that read 'G.R.O.S.S.: Get Rid Of Slimy GirlS.' The other two things were paper hats made from newspapers.

As soon as Hobbes saw these things, he immediately forgot about being a celebrity. It had been a long time since he and Calvin had held a G.R.O.S.S. meeting. G.R.O.S.S. was a club invented by Calvin and Hobbes some time ago to harass girls on their block back at home. Their main focus was a girl named Susie Derkins, a girl that Calvin was growing up with.

"There's only one place for a meeting like this," Calvin said after a minute of silence and started climbing the rope that led to the top of the canyon and into the building. However, Calvin didn't get very far because Hobbes immediately pulled him down and raced up the rope. As soon as Calvin got back to his feet, Hobbes, being a tiger, had already reached the top and had pulled the rope out of Calvin's reach. Immediately, Calvin started jumping up and down with rage.

"WHY'D YA DO THAT?" He demanded.

"Because you have to say the password to get up here," Hobbes shouted down, looking gleeful at the reaction he was getting from Calvin.

"I SHOULDN'T HAVE TO SAY A DUMB PASSWORD! I'M THE DICTATOR FOR LIFE OF THIS CLUB AND YOU KNOW IT'S ME! NOW LET ME UP!"

"Say the password if you are the dictator," Hobbes replied.

Calvin grumbled to himself and recited a poem Hobbes had written for the password.

_Tigers are great_

_They're the toast of the town_

_Life's always better_

_When a tiger's around_

_Tigers are great _

_They can never be beat_

_If I were a tiger_

_That would be neat_

_Tigers are fearless_

_The e-pit-o-me_

_They are full of courage_

_Strength and dignity_

"NOW LET ME UP, WILL YA?" Calvin demanded.

Hobbes finally let down the rope and Calvin testily made his way up the rope.

When Calvin reached the top, he had cooled down and began to take the role of leadership of the club.

"The meeting of the top-secret club G.R.O.S.S.: Get Rid Of Slimy GirlS has now come to order! Dictator-for-life Calvin speaking!"

"Here! Here!" Hobbes replied.

"Today's meeting will be a meeting discussing two new girls we have recently met in our lives: Tifa and Aeris," Calvin continued. "We will have a meeting of positives and negatives for both of them. Therefore, we will start with the positives because that will be shorter than the negatives and out saying is get the easier tasks done first. Ha! Ha! Ha!"

"First Tiger and President, Hobbes, will take notes," Hobbes replied, pulling out a notebook and pencil.

"We will start with Aeris' positives. First off, she is not nearly as annoying as Tifa! Secondly, she doesn't seem to be as pompous and as demanding as Tifa! Thirdly, Aeris knows her stuff when it comes to magic! In my opinion, she is a better female comrade that Tifa. Got all that president Hobbes?"

"Sure do!" Hobbes said, jotting notes as fast as he could. "What about Tifa?"

"This won't be very long. First off, she's good for water balloon practice. Secondly, she'd be good for colonizing Pluto! Thirdly, she's good for **nothing**! Ha! Ha! Ha!"

Hobbes, meanwhile, was trying to write legibly while laughing. He then added, "Number four: she's good for snuggling and hugging. Woo Hoo!"

"Yeah, and number five is…WHAT? HUGGING AND SNUGGLING?"

"It's true," Hobbes replied.

Calvin started making sick paces and choking and gagging noises. "Ack! My stomach! You're demoted from first tiger and president of the club to janitor and idiot of the club!"

"You can't argue the facts," Hobbes replied. "Because I thought of such a clever idea, I award myself a medal of wisdom."

With those words, Calvin immediately gave Hobbes a death stare, raised a fist in a threatening way, and said, "How do YOU know it's a fact? Have you been doing it?"

"I have my sources," Hobbes replied, giving Calvin a death stare of his own. "This poor leadership behavior will be recorded in the club minutes."

With those words, he started writing in the notebook again, but Calvin tackled him to the ground and started wrestling with him. Hobbes, however, could fight back and did so with ease.

"OUT WITH IT!" Calvin demanded, tugging on Hobbes' ears. "HAVE YOU BEEN HUGGING AND SNUGGLING WITH TIFA?"

"**You **have!" Hobbes replied while clawing Calvin's leg. "I saw you doing it!"

"THAT'S A FILTHY LIE! I SHOULD KICK YOU OUT OF THE CLUB FOR THAT!" Calvin shouted as he was trying to twist Hobbes' ankle.

"Oh yeah?" Hobbes protested, biting Calvin's arm. "Remember back at that forest when you had your limit break unleashed? After you beat that Ocho, Tifa came up to you and started checking on you, you said something smooth, and she gave you a small hug. You even let her do it!"

With those words, Calvin stopped wrestling with Hobbes. He did remember something like that happening.

"Well…I…er…wasn't myself…literally…I was Tracer Bullet! She hugged him…not me!"

"Remember our oath?" Hobbes said, brushing himself off. "Avoid girls at all costs no matter who we are, what we are, where we are. When we are, why we are, and how we are. No exceptions!"

Calvin could not argue with this. After all, he himself had written that oath.

"According to the law book, you should be banished from the club for life," Hobbes continued, reading from the same notebook he had been making notes in.

"Well…well…well…so should YOU!" Calvin finally protested. "Remember when we were in the buggy and you allowed Aeris and Tifa to snuggle with you while they were sleeping?"

Hobbes immediately had a look of guilt on his face. He did remember that day when Tifa and Aeris were sitting on both sides of him. He had let them stroke his fur while they fell asleep on his shoulders.

"Well…I'm a tiger! Girls dig hair. I had no choice!"

"Remember the oath, Hobbes." Calvin responded without missing a beat.

Both were silent. They did not know what to say to each other. They had broken their own oath.

"Now what are we going to do?" Hobbes asked.

Calvin thought hard for a few minutes, then finally said, "As dictator-for-life of this club, I hereby pardon both of us for our crimes and will overlook it this once. In the future, we will be careful. Agreed?"

"Agreed," Hobbes responded, shaking Calvin's hand. "Plus, I'll make a new law that states that members are allowed one mistake when it comes to girls."

At that moment, Cloud showed up in the house.

"What's going on here?" he asked. "And what's with this banner?"

Calvin and Hobbes immediately took off their hats and tried to make up some story, but had nothing.

"Never mind," Cloud said, figuring it was probably for the better if he didn't know. "Anyways, I've been looking for you guys. Bugenhagen, Red XIII's grandfather, wants to speak with you, Hobbes. He says he can explain why you are well-known here."


	10. Hobbes' History

Chapter Ten: Hobbes' history

Calvin and Hobbes followed Cloud up the path that led them to the top of the canyon. Hobbes was more eager to get there than Calvin was because he wanted to know why people in Cosmo Canyon knew him as well as they did.

Calvin was also interested with what Bugenhagen had to say about Hobbes' past here at Cosmo canyon. For six years now, he always knew Hobbes and never exactly figured out where he came from that day they first met. Calvin remembered it well.

He was off to check his tiger trap that he had set the night before. He had rigged the trap with tuna fish. For some reason or another, his father didn't seem to believe that tigers would like tuna fish. However, when Calvin got to his trap, there was a tiger dangling in the air with the rope around one of his feet. Sure enough, he was eating the sandwich he had set for bait. Calvin was a little shocked at first to see that his trap had actually worked, but he was happy nonetheless.

He helped Hobbes get back to the ground and took him back to his house. There, he had done as his dad had told him and stuffed Hobbes. He gave him all the food in the refrigerator and Hobbes ate until he was stuffed. Calvin chuckled at the fact that his dad had gotten mad at him after he found out that a tiger had eaten all the food in the house. For some reason though, his father never believed that the tiger had eaten all the food.

That night, Calvin and the tiger were playing in their bed. It was late and they were jumping on the bed. It wasn't too long until their father came into the room and shouted at Calvin for making so much noise. Calvin never understood why his father always got mad at him and he never got after Hobbes for doing anything.

The next day, he wanted to show his class in school that he had caught a tiger and that he had learned the night before that his name was Hobbes. For some reason, the class wasn't too impressed with his tiger. 'Maybe they all have one or something,' he thought to himself. Then, after show and tell, his teacher, Miss Wormwood, wanted him to put Hobbes in his locker. Calvin was shocked at the thought that his teacher wanted him to put a live tiger in his locker. Didn't she know that suffocated tigers? After a quick debate, Miss Wormwood had agreed to let Calvin put Hobbes under his chair. Not only did Hobbes have a place where he could breathe, but now Hobbes could help him with his math. Hobbes said tigers were good at math, but when Calvin got his math quiz back that Hobbes had helped him with the next day, Calvin began to have second thoughts.

Calvin stopped thinking for a minute. Now that he had thought about it, he had never asked Hobbes where he had come from before. Despite the years that he and Hobbes had spent together, he knew nothing of Hobbes' history. This was going to be the day when he learned where Hobbes came from.

As soon as he finished that thought, he noticed that they had finally reached the top of the canyon where Bugenhagen was located. On the top was a large building. It almost looked like a laboratory of some sort. What gave it the scientific look was the giant telescope that was coming out of the roof. The telescope was as large as the smallest building in Cosmo canyon. The telescope could make the closest planet look like it was just a hop away.

Cloud walked to the door of the building and knocked on the door. After a minute of waiting, a man came to the door. This man looked like no other man Calvin, nor Hobbes, had ever seen before. He looked like he was about one hundred years old and for some reason or another, floated around on what looked like to be a green orb. Other than that, he had the normal features of an old man: long, white beard, bald headed, and wore glasses. Not to mention that he looked to be extremely wise.

"Calvin and Hobbes, this is Bugenhagen, Red XIII's grandfather," Cloud said.

Bugenhagen floated over to where Calvin and Hobbes were standing and greeted them.

"Ho! Ho! Ho! Hello to both of you. This young man must be Calvin and this must be the famous Hobbes. Truly an honor it is to meet you at last, Sir Hobbes."

"Yeah…about that," Hobbes began. "Cloud said that you could tell me how everyone here knows me and why I'm so famous here. What was it that I did to become so famous?"

"Ah, yes," Bugenhagen replied, deep in thought. "There is a story behind all that. If you'll have a seat, I will be more than glad to explain that to you."

Hobbes eagerly found a seat and forced Calvin and Cloud to sit on both sides on him.

"Now then, Hobbes, you are so well known here because of your parents. See, many years ago, Cosmo Canyon was at war with another nation that is now extinct. For many years, they had been harassing us and our allies.

One day, our enemies decided to try to take Cosmo canyon by attacking the town head on. This was the day you and your parents became famous along with Red XIII and his parents. You see, your parents and Red XIII's parents were in the front line of our army. They fought their hearts out for our home and they indeed did bring our side to victory almost single-handedly. Their lightning speed and their strong use of magic was stuff of the legends. Our enemies didn't stand a chance. On that day, they risked their lives for our protection. It is because of them, Cosmo Canyon is still here today."

"What does that have to do with Hobbes?" Calvin demanded.

"You see, Hobbes was born six moths prior to the attack. Because his parent's powers were part of their DNA, they were passed down to Hobbes. Before they went to battle, they went to their cub, Hobbes, and asked me to transfer his powers into them for the battle. You and you parents are unlike any tigers I have ever seen, I must say that. Anyways, that is why you're famous, Hobbes. Your powers that you had were used by your parents to help win the battle along with the war. It was a very important battle that marked a turning point in the war. It is because of you, Hobbes, and your parents, that Cosmo Canyon is a place where your name and the names of your parents are legendary."

Hobbes' expression told everyone what he was feeling. He had a look of pride for his race and his parents. He also had a couple of tears in his eyes at the fact that the powers he once had saved Cosmo Canyon from evil.

"Wait a minute," Calvin said, breaking the silence. "If he's so famous, why did he end up living with me?"

"Another question I can answer," Bugenhagen replied. "You see, after Hobbes' parents received Hobbes' powers, they asked me to take him somewhere safe. Naturally, I had to fight, so I assigned someone to take Hobbes somewhere where he would be safe. But for some reason, that man never returned, so no one ever found out what happened to Hobbes. I had people search for him, but for six years, no one ever found him. A few months ago, I finally got hold of some aliens to search for Hobbes. Their names were Galaxiod and Nebular. They searched for him and eventually returned with news that he was still alive and that he was in the care of a six-year old boy. Ever since then, I sent them to give me updates on how he was doing. One day, I ordered them to actually speak with Hobbes and the boy. When they returned, they gave me information here on Calvin and how Hobbes was getting along with him just fine. They gave me an interesting story. They said that they were gathering leaves for a school project and that they asked Galaxiod and Nebular for fifty alien leaves. When they asked me what to do, I told them to just cut up fifty maple leaves into different shapes so they would earn their trust. I wanted them to keep updates on the two."

Bugenhagen was about to continue, when Calvin jumped out of his seat and started shouting.

"WHAT? YOU MEAN THAT THEY REALLY WERE MAPLE LEAVES AND THAT THEY DON'T OWN THE PLANET? THEY TRICKED ME JUST TO GET AN UPDATE ON CATAPULT-BUTT OVER HERE? I FLUNKED THAT PROJECT BECAUSE OF THEM! WHY DIDN'T THEY JUST GIVE ME SOME REAL ALIEN LEAVES?"

"Because," Bugenhagen chuckled, "I needed you to think they were there for the world. You see, it was not yet time for Hobbes to know the truth; He was still a little young. Therefore, I had them play along so they would earn your trust."

"WELL, THEY JUST LOST MY TRUST!" Calvin shouted, still outraged.

"I had them visit you two one more time after that," Bugenhagen continued. "It was around Christmas. This time, I needed proof that there two were who they said they were. So, I sent them to return with proof that it was them. When they returned, they showed me some Christmas stockings with their names on them. Right then, I knew that it was them."

By now, Calvin had turned red with fury. "FIRST THEY GIVE ME A BAD GRADE ON MY LEAF PROJECT, AND THEN THEY TAKE OUR CHRISTMAS STOCKINGS JUST FOR PROOF THAT WE ARE WHO WE KNOW WE ARE? MOM AND DAD HIT THE ROOF WHEN THEY FOUND OUT WE LOST OUR STOCKINGS! PLUS, SANTA COULDN'T FILL THEM WITH OUR LOOT! HE HAD TO PUT THEM ON THE STUPID COUCH! HE MUST HAVE BEEEN LAUGHING AT US THAT YEAR!"

Hobbes, however, was silent. When Calvin had finished shouting and saying things he shouldn't have, Hobbes finally spoke.

"So…that's how it happened," he said just above a whisper. "My parents were warriors…I was taken away for protection…I wandered alone for years until I fell into that tiger trap…Galaxiod and Nebular spying on me to give my home updates on my status…it all makes sense…I think."

"I understand how you feel," Bugenhagen replied. "It's a lot to find out in one day. Are you all right?"

"I'll be fine," Hobbes replied. "Actually, I'm glad I finally know the truth. Now, I know who my parents really were and to be honest, I've never felt better."

"WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON THOSE TWO ALIENS, WHEREVER THEY ARE, I'M GONNA GIVE THEM SUCH A THRASHING! IT'S GONNA BE BOLT THIS AND FIRE THAT! OH, THEY'RE IN FOR IT!" Calvin shouted, cracking his knuckles.

"Thank you very much," Hobbes said to Bugenhagen, ignoring Calvin. "Thank you for telling me that story."

Just then, Cloud's PHS rang. He answered it and hang up just about as fast.

"Come on you two," Cloud said, guiding Calvin and Hobbes to the exit. "Everyone's waiting by the fire. I'm sure they want to hear all about it." h


	11. Conversation Around the Cosmo Candle

Chapter Eleven: Conversation Around the Cosmo candle

Cloud, Calvin, and Hobbes returned to the bottom of the canyon to see that all of their friends were sitting around what looked like a campfire. They decided that it would be best to join them.

Upon approaching the flames, they looked around to find some empty seats. Cloud found one next to Cait Sith and Aeris, Calvin found one next to Aeris and Tifa, and Hobbes found one next to Barret and Red XIII. Soon, conversations were brought about from the people around the fire that was known to many as "The Cosmo Candle".

"So, did you and Hobbes do anything interesting while we went off exploring?" Aeris asked Calvin.

"Well, nothing really," Calvin replied. "Hobbes and I just had a little secret meeting."

"What did you two talk about?" Aeris asked in interest.

"None of your business," Calvin replied in a snooty voice.

"That was kind of rude," Aeris said in a more serious voice.

"Rude? HA! The way I see it, women talking to men is a sign of rudeness! Women should be used to colonize Pluto!"

Aeris felt disgusted with these words she was hearing, but she then started laughing at them. It wasn't a hysterical laugh, but more of a hard giggle.

"You think that's funny?" Calvin demanded, now standing up and looking at Aeris in a dirty way.

"As a matter of fact, I do," Aeris said in a heart-warming way.

This confused Calvin. He was used to having to argue his thoughts to girls that thought they were smarter than him. There was something in her voice, though, that said she didn't want to argue, but that there was something that Calvin was missing.

"What is it?" Calvin asked, sitting down and staying calm.

"Nothing," Aeris replied. Calvin couldn't tell, but Aeris was teasing him.

"What is it?" Calvin asked again in a more whiny voice than before.

This time, Aeris decided to give in. "Well, it's just...you remind me a lot of him when we were younger."

"Who?"

"Oh, someone I grew up with," Aeris replied. "When I was about your age, I was being tortured by this boy with hair that looks like yours, except it was black. He would always think of ways to harass me and embarrass me in front of all the other boys I lived near. As time went on, he and I became close friends. Later on, we started dating. We had some good times."

She chuckled to herself for a second before continuing. "I remember our first date. We had a picnic. It was a beautiful day. After lunch, we just lay next to each other, enjoying the breeze and beautiful day it was. Then, he threw some grass at me. I threw some back, and he threw even more grass at me. I tackled him and we both went rolling down the hill. When we got to the bottom, I found myself on top of him, looking into his precious eyes. It was then...we shared our first kiss. The only thing I could think at that point was...I've never felt so happy in my life."

Calvin seemed a little grossed out at this memory. "How could anyone stand that?" Calvin asked himself, gagging at the thought of being with a girl on a picnic. "How can anyone go for that mushy stuff?"

"For a while," Aeris continued, "I thought we might have gotten married and started a life together someday. But..." her voice started to trail off. Calvin could tell she was holding back some tears. "...he got shipped out the next day. There was a war or something going on at Neibelheim. He was sent to go as a member of SOLDER. After that, I never saw him again...I thought I was never going to stop crying." With those words, tears began to stroll down her face.

Calvin started to feel sorry for Aeris. It was a tough thing to go through, even if it was sissy. Calvin thought of Hobbes and tried to imagine if Hobbes were to leave him tomorrow and never come back. Calvin stopped after a few seconds. He didn't want to think about it. Instead, he put his hand on Aeris' shoulder and said, "I'm sorry...for everything."

Aeris wiped her eyes and said, "It's all right. At least he doesn't have to feel pain anymore. Plus, I know that he's still with me...he'll always be with me...no matter what."

Meanwhile, Hobbes was talking to Barret and Hobbes about what Bugenhagen had told him.

"...and them my parents fought off the tribe that was attacking our tribe. And guess what...they used the powers I had when I was a cub! To think, I helped save this land in a way! I've never felt so proud in my life! I wonder what powers I had. Do you think my life would be different if mom and dad never took my powers? Do you?"

"Woah, calm down," Barret said, putting his hand on Hobbes' shoulder. "You'll jump out of your skin if you keep it up."

"No I won't," Hobbes replied. "Tigers don't have skin...we have fur. Our fur is so strong, that it can handle any level of excitement."

"That was a figure of speech," Barret replied. "You know," he continued, "You and that Calvin...yer better fighters than I thought. Plus, you've got warrior's blood running through yer veins. I think both of ya would make fine additions to AVALANCHE."

"AVALANCHE?" Hobbes asked with enthusiasm.

"A group dedicated to wiping out Shinra. We've been doing it fer years now. Right now, it's just me, Tifa, Cloud, Aeris, and Red here. I'm thinking of asking Cait Sith to join soon, but right now, I would like you and Calvin to join. What do you say?"

"Sounds great!" Hobbes said right away. By now, he was so excited that his tail was wagging faster than a racecar. "WHAT A DAY! First, I find out that my parents were great warriors and now, I get to help save the world! Doesn't that sound great Red XIII?"

Red XIII, however, was quiet. In fact, he looked as if he wasn't really paying any attention whatsoever.

"Red? You okay?" Hobbes asked.

"...no..." Red XIII mumbled.

"What's up?"

"It's when I hear you talking about how brave your parents were in the fight. You see, my mother was fighting for this tribe as well."

"That's great to hear!" Hobbes said enthusiastically.

"But my father..." Red stopped and hung his head in shame. "...he ran. He left my tribe...your parents...mother to fight while he ran. He's an embarrassment to this tribe...I'm ashamed to be his son!" he shouted with anger.

Everyone around the Cosmo candle stopped talking about whatever it was they were talking about and looked at Red XIII who was hiding his face in shame.

"...my cowardly father ran...he ran" he continued to say to himself.

"How could you say that about your father Nanaki?" Bugenhagen asked as he approached. He had heard Red XIII screaming and thought he should check it out.

"Well, he did, grandpa. You know it and I know it. Everyone knows it."

Bugenhagen stayed silent for a few seconds before saying..."Nanaki, you should come with me. There is something you should have seen a long time ago."


	12. Going Through the Caves

Chapter Twelve: Going through the cave

"What is it, grandfather?" Red asked with curiosity in his voice.

"Come with me. You need to see this rather than have me explain it," he replied. He then turned to Cloud. "Cloud, this will be dangerous. I must ask for your assistance along with one other person. Who will do it?"

For a few seconds, people were silent. They weren't sure if they wanted go up against what Bugenhagen said was so dangerous.

"Please someone volunteer?" Red asked in a sympathetic voice.

"I'll do it," a voice came.

Everyone looked at Hobbes who was standing up. He had volunteered.

"Are you sure you want to do this Hobbes?" Bugenhagen asked. "The creatures that await us are far more dangerous than you can think."

"My parents would have done it," Hobbes said with pride. "Therefore, I will do it. It's what they would have wanted."

"You know, I like your attitude," Cloud replied with an encouraging tone. "I think it's a great idea that you come. Besides, it might be something you want to see."

"Very well," Bugenhagen said. "If you are ready, then I suggest that we get going."

With those words, Cloud, Red XIII, and Hobbes followed Bugenhagen up the canyon once again. Halfway up the mountain, Bugenhagen stopped at a door that was sealed off.

"Now, before we go in, I must ask to make sure you're all prepared. I'm not joking when I say this place is extremely dangerous."

"I'm ready," Red XIII replied anxiously.

"Wait a minute," Hobbes said. "I have materia, but I don't know how to use it. Can you teach me quickly Cloud?"

"Well, there's not much to it, really," Cloud began. "All you have to do is focus on the spell that you want to cast, really focus, then you'll know when you're ready to cast it."

"How will I know?" Hobbes asked.

"Trust me," Cloud smiled. "You'll know."

"Very well. Let's get going, shall we?" Bugenhagen suggested.

With those words, Bugenhagen pulled a secret lever that opened the door.

"Follow me and don't let your guards down for a minute," Bugenhagen warned.

The four of them entered the door and saw a hole that a ladder hanging from it. The hole was so deep that the bottom could not be seen. The ladder looked like it went on forever. Cloud went first to see if it was safe at the bottom if there was a bottom. After a minute or two, Cloud finally called for the next person to come down. Bugenhagen went next, and Red XIII and Hobbes jumped to the bottom.

"We need light if we're going to find the next room," Bugenhagen said.

"We don't need light," Hobbes replied. "A tiger has eyes that can see even in the darkest night. I can find our way in no time."

After ten minutes had passed and Hobbes had ran into the wall fifteen times, Cloud finally cast a fire spell on a piece of wood he found and used it as a torch.

"Is this the door?" Cloud asked, pointing at a rock that looked like it had been moved before.

"It may be," Bugenhagen replied and observed it. "Try pushing it."

Cloud had Red XIII hold the torch while he gave it a good push. The rock rolled aside and a passageway was revealed to them.

"Where does this lead?" Red XIII asked.

"This is a secret passageway that leads into the canyon. People of the canyon used this passageway to secretly enter the canyon in case they were being chased by someone or something. It leads to the outside to answer your question. Now, let us continue on, shall we?"

"I almost found it," Hobbes said, still rubbing his head. "My eyes just weren't working right is all."

Everyone just rolled their eyes and entered the passageway.

The next room was dark, but not nearly as dark as the entrance. There was a source of light coming from somewhere, but they couldn't really find where.

"This was where some of the army was entering when the battle started. The army had found someone sneak into the entrance from outside and got some of his best solders together to make a sneak attack on our tribe. However, they never got this far." Bugenhagen explained.

"How come?" Red XIII asked.

"Let's continue and you will see."

"Where do we go from here?" Hobbes asked. "I don't see a door that leads to anywhere."

"If I recall," Bugenhagen pondered, "there was a switch somewhere around this part. Let's split up and look for it, but be VERY careful."

Soon. The four of them were searching different parts of the cave, looking for a switch that may activate a hidden door. Cloud was checking every rock, Bugenhagen was searching for the door itself, Red XIII was sniffing the ground for something, and Hobbes was looking in caves that existed in the cave that weren't very big.

"If I were a hidden switch, where would I be hiding?" Hobbes asked himself as he sat down on a rock.

Suddenly, the rock shifted a little which caused Hobbes to jump up immediately. He watched in amazement as the rock moved itself back into a hole in the wall.

"Guys, I found it!" Hobbes shouted excitedly. "It's right..."

But Hobbes never got to finish the sentence. Before he knew what was going on, three monsters had jumped him from within the hole. They were beasts that stood on all four legs and were about the same size as Red XIII and they were biting ferociously at Hobbes.

"HELP!" Hobbes shouted desperately. The beasts were scratching at Hobbes and trying to spit a poisonous gas into Hobbes' mouth.

Cloud came running into the cave and began slicing the beasts with his gigantic sword. With each strike, the three monsters were blown off of Hobbes, but were still alive. They came rushing at Cloud, but were pounced by Red XIII and Hobbes.

One beast had managed to escape Hobbes and Red XIII and ran towards Cloud. It stopped just in front of him and began to roar madly. Just as Cloud was about to finish the creature, a skull-like image appeared over his head and bit down on him. He felt the bite, but it didn't really hurt. The skull had vanished and Cloud was ready to finish the beast when he felt a sudden pain in his body and fell to the ground.

"Nanaki! You must help Cloud now! He has been cursed by the monsters! If they're not killed quickly, he will die!"

Red XIII left the beast he had badly wounded and ran to Cloud's aid, leaving Hobbes to fend the two beasts for himself.

"Okay, don't panic," Hobbes told himself. "I'll use magic." With those words, Hobbes began to focus.

"Ice, ice, ice, ice, ice" he continued to chant, but nothing came. The two beasts had surrounded Hobbes and Hobbes was starting to really become nervous.

"Forget the magic!" he shouted and pounced both creatures.

Meanwhile, Cloud was getting weaker every second from the monsters curse. Red XIII was fighting the monster off as best he could. Finally, he jumped back and shouted, "Stand clear everyone! I summon the burning flames of the earth to gather and become stronger to attack all foes! "FIRE 2 ALL!" With those words, each monster was surrounded by a giant flame of fire. The blaze finished all three of them off.

Hobbes was a little sore from the back attack the beasts used on him and Cloud was finally getting his balance back.

"Is everyone okay?" Bugenhagen asked worriedly.

"I could use a tuna sandwich," Hobbes replied.

"What was that attack?" Red XIII asked.

"Death Sentence. When the user casts that spell, the victim is cursed with a curse that will take the victim's life if the caster is not killed in time." Bugenhagen replied. "We were lucky this time. We need to be careful for that attack."

"How come you didn't use magic?" Cloud asked Hobbes.

"I tried, but nothing came. I tried to focus, but I was too scared by those things when they surrounded me."

"Listen, next time, you have to forget those creatures and just focus on the spell you want to cast. If you do that, then the spell will come and it will work."

"Never mind," said Bugenhagen. "I just remembered where the switch was. It's in the third cave from the entrance. It's another rock just like the one Hobbes used only it will open the door. We put in these other ones for traps in case anyone DID make it this far."

The four of them found the switch and a door up a cliff opened. The four of them made their way through the door into the next room, which had lava flowing underneath the path in which they had to walk.

"This part of the cave was designed like this to slow down the attack of any enemies we had. If the enemy came charging through the door at the other end and didn't see the lava, the first few lines would have fallen in and burned. They had to walk carefully over the narrow path. If they didn't, they would fall and be burned."

"This may be a case where I don't want to use the speed of a tiger," Hobbes said, eyeing the lava with fear in his eyes.

"Did the enemy during the battle make it this far?" Red XIII asked.

"No. The warrior that came down here to fend them off fought with such strength that the enemy didn't make it this far."

"Warrior? What warrior?" Red XIII asked.

"You will see at the end of this journey," Bugenhagen replied in a gentle voice. "Now, let's cross this path and be very careful."

The path was indeed narrow. It was just wide enough so the four could cross at a normal walking pace and not lose their balance. Hobbes went slower than normal but stopped at the middle and looked at the lava.

"This would be a good time to practice my ice attack," he thought and started concentrating again.

His only thought was the ice spell. He focused on nothing but casting the ice spell. Soon, he felt a gentle breeze blowing around him and felt a power surge through him.

"Hobbes!" Cloud shouted. "Move it or lose it!"

This caused Hobbes to lose his concentration and the surge he felt had vanished. He sighed and finished crossing the path and went into the next room.

"The warrior made his way through these caves, fighting off all monsters that tried to stop his mission. Of course, the monsters didn't stand a chance against him and his skill in battle. Because of this warrior's courage and strength, the enemy even didn't make it this far."

"How long is this cave?" Cloud asked.

"The next room is the entrance to the cave," Bugenhagen replied. "We are almost there."

They began to make their way to the door that led to the entrance of the cave when a giant spider fell before them and it looked hungry.

Hobbes nearly passed out at the sight of this spider and the others jumped back about three feet as the spider came for them.

Hobbes quickly recovered and began to focus again on casting ice. He knew what to look for when concentrating this time. He knew the surge to be felt when the spell was almost ready to cast. He began to feel the surge again when he felt something hairy and pointy strike him, sending him flying back into a wall. The spider had struck Hobbes and was now closing in on him.

Cloud acted fast. He closed his eyes and began to concentrate. Soon, the spell was ready.

"Curse this monster with the ultimate curse! Death Sentence!"

Like before, a skull appeared over the spider and bit it. The spider gave a small yelp and fell to the ground, twitching.

Hobbes rubbed his head and walked over to the others.

"You all right?" Red XIII asked.

"Fine," Hobbes winced. "How did you cast that spell Cloud?"

"I'll explain another time," he answered. "Let's just get out of here first."

"Agreed," Hobbes said.

The four made their way to the room where the entrance of the cave was. However, when they got there, they saw that there was no entrance. Instead, the wall before them had a strange figure engraved into the wall.

"What is this?" Bugenhagen asked in shock. "What IS this...THING...DOING HERE?" he was starting to sound scared.


	13. Gi Nattack Attack

Chapter Twelve: Gi Nattack Attack!

"Grandfather?" Red XIII asked worriedly.

"IT...HE KILLED IT!" he continued to shout.

"Who killed who?" Hobbes asked, starting to worry.

"The warrior killed this warrior...but WHY?"

"Why what?" Cloud demanded.

Before Bugenhagen got a chance to answer, the wall that was before them began to give an eerie glow. The figure on the wall began to move as if it were alive. Then, the wall exploded as particles of light were swarming around the air and compressing together. Soon, the light dimmed away as a monstrous figure appeared where the vortex of light was. On each side of the monster were two flames that seemed to be controlled by the monster. Then, with a wave of its hand, it summoned a humongous staff and glared at the four that had come into the room.

"What is that, grandfather?" Red XIII asked, shocked.

"Gi Nattik," Bugenhagen responded, shocked to see it himself. "This was the leader of the army that invaded our town years ago. Only, it appears to be his ghost…BUT HOW!

"Never mind that," Cloud replied, pulling out his sword. "Let's focus on killing this thing!"

"Stand back, grandfather! We'll handle this thing!"

As the three charged Gi Nattik, it swung its staff at them, striking Hobbes, sending him flying into a wall once again. Cloud and Red XIII managed to dodge the attack as they struck the monster. Gi Nattik hollered in pain, but quickly recovered and prepared to attack again. Its staff struck Cloud on the head, taking him to the ground, unconscious.

Red XIII saw that he was currently alone and began to focus a magic spell into effect.

"Bolt2!" he shouted as a monstrous thunderbolt appear out of nowhere and struck Gi Nattik.

Hobbes began to regain his balance as he tried to make his way towards the monster again. He could see that Red XIII was struggling to focus magic spells to cast because Gi Nattik was constantly swinging at him. Cloud still had not recovered from the blow to the head as Bugenhagen had taken him aside to try and revive him.

Red XIII had just cast another lightning spell on Gi Nattik, which was looking weaker after each strike, but also looked angrier than before as well. It stopped swinging its staff and began to chant something in a language that was not familiar to anyone.

Red XIII saw this as a perfect opportunity to cast another magic spell as he began to focus again. As he was about to cast the spell, he suddenly felt a green light appear over him submerge around him. He began to feel weaker, not physically, but mentally. Soon, the light emerged from around him and disappeared. Red XIII tried to cast a spell, but whenever he tried to, the surge of energy would not come to him no matter how hard he focused.

"Guys! I can't cast magic anymore! I think he drained me of my magic powers!"

"You must fight him off!" Bugenhagen shouted. "Cloud is still unconscious!"

"Great," Red XIII muttered to himself. "Where the heck is Hobbes?"

At that moment, one of the flames that were surrounding Gi Nattik flew at Red XIII and hit him head-on. Red XIII expected intense heat, but felt none. In fact, he didn't see the flame anywhere when he opened his eyes. It had disappeared.

"HA! No wonder this warrior was defeated," Red XIII chuckled out loud. "He doesn't even have fire that burns."

However, as Red XIII went to move towards Gi Nattik, he felt a surge of heat arise in his body. Had his magic powers regenerated? It seemed so, until the heat began to get warmer and warmer. Soon, it was too hot for Red XIII to bear. It seemed as if his body was on fire. In fact, within seconds, it was on fire! The flame had possessed him and was burning him from the inside out!

Gi Nattik just laughed in triumph as Red XIII burned. Hobbes watched, terrified of what was taking place. He shook as the flames went out and Red XIII was lying on the ground, motionless.

"Nanaki!" Bugenhagen trembled as he raced over to his grandson.

Alas, though, Gi Nattack saw Bugenhagen and had selected him for his next attack. He summoned forth another flame like the one that had attacked Red XIII and sent it towards Bugenhagen, whom was defenseless.

Hobbes began to sweat tremendously. Now, he was forced to do something.

"Man, it's now or never," he thought to himself. "I have to get this magic thing figured out now!"

Hobbes breathed deep as began to focus once again. He cleared his head of all thoughts and began to focus on the ice spell. He continued to chant 'ice! Ice!' as hard as he could. The flame was getting closer and closer to Bugenhagen, who was still trying to revive his grandson.

Finally, Bugenhagen looked up to see the flame approaching him. He screamed in horror as the flame came closer and closer.

Hobbes heard Bugenhagen's cry of fear. At that moment, it seemed as though something had awaken within him. He no longer felt anxiety, but anger…extreme anger. In fact, he never felt this angry before in his life. He felt his body be surrounded by a powerful, green aura. He felt a familiar surge run through his body.

"ICE!" Hobbes shouted with rage.

As he said this, a cold feeling came over his fingers. He quickly aimed his hands towards the flame. Once his aim was set, the ice spell was fired towards the flame. The spell struck the flame as it was about to attack Bugenhagen, destroying it.

"I DID IT!" Hobbes shouted with excitement.

Gi Nattack turned towards Hobbes as he shouted this and immediately charged at him.

Fortunately, Hobbes saw it coming and began to conjure another ice spell. This time, though, he did it with ease. The spell was fired at Gi Nattack, striking it where it's heart would have been. Gi Nattack actually stopped charging to shake the effects of the attack off. After it had shaken off the spell, Hobbes pounced Gi Nattack, taking it to the ground, scratching its eyes. Desperately, Gi Nattack began throwing its hands around, trying to get Hobbes off. Eventually, it struck Hobbes and sent him flying. But it was now blinded.

Meanwhile, Bugenhagen had revived Cloud and Red XIII.

"Hobbes has been doing a fascinating job fighting off the warrior," Bugenhagen exclaimed. "He even managed to summon an ice spell."

"Finally," Cloud said, readying his sword for combat.

"Let us end this once and for all," Red XIII added. With those words, Cloud and Red XIII ran to Hobbes' aid.

Hobbes, meanwhile, had hit Gi Nattack with another ice spell. Gi Nattack tried to hit Hobbes, but could not find him because he was blinded.

"Hobbes! We're going to finish it once and for all!" Cloud shouted.

"Good," Hobbes sighed. "I've been saving this limit break for an emergency."

"You're limit's at its max? Mine too," Red XIII replied.

"Same here," Cloud added. "Let's use them at the same time. That may finish him."

Hobbes and Red XIII agreed and ran to a proper position.

Gi Nattack was now blindly swinging its club, trying to strike anything, hoping it was Hobbes, Red XIII, or Cloud.

A red light surrounded Cloud, Red XIII, and Hobbes, signaling the release of their limit breaks.

"SLED FANG!" Red XIII shouted, charging at Gi Nattack with a razor aura surrounding his mouth. He leaped in the air, allowing the aura in front of his mouth to chew through Gi Nattack until he came out the back side of it. The aftermath of the attack left a hole the size of Red XIII's body in the gut area of Gi Nattack.

It screamed in pain as it put both of it's hands on the wound, trying to comfort it. However, this left him open for Hobbes' limit break.

"EYE OF A TIGER!" Hobbes shouted as his eyes began to glow furiously. Soon, a laser shot from his eyes that struck the heart of the creature and zapped through him much like Red XIII's attack had done. The laser shot from Hobbes' eyes for about ten minutes before they had gone back their original state.

Now, the monster was crying in agony as it held one hand on its stomach wound and another on its chest wound. This left him open for Cloud to finish.

"CLIMHAZZARD!" Cloud roared as his sword began to give a fiery glow. He then charged to the bottom area of Gi Nattack and drove his sword right into his lower area. He them lifted himself off the ground and drove his sword right up Gi Nattack. The holes Red XIII and Hobbes had made with their limit breaks made it easier for Cloud to drive his sword upward until he had cleared the monster from toe to head.

When Cloud reached the ground, the body of Gi Nattack fell to the ground, split in half from Cloud's attack. It then gave a furious glow as it vaporized into thin air. The threat was finally eliminated.

"WE DID IT!" Hobbes shouted with glee. "WE ELIMINATED THE WARRIOR!"

"Thanks to you, Hobbes," Cloud mentioned. "I have to admit it…you saved us all. You and that ice spell. Well done."

Hobbes blushed slightly at this statement.

"All three of you fought well," Bugenhagen added, emerging from behind the rock he as hiding behind. "Nanaki, your parents would have been extremely proud of you…I know I am."

Red XIII blushed so much that his fur changed from a different shade of red.

"Oh, that reminds me," Bugenhagen continued. "The warrior of whom I was telling the tale of, Nanaki, it is now time for you to see that warrior."

"Grandfather…where is this warrior?"

"Just beyond the hole in the wall over there," he said, motioning to where Gi Nattack had exploded the cave wall, showing a hole that led to the outside.

"It is time for you to learn the truth, Nanaki. This is it."


	14. Seto

A/N: This is Ducko writing. I want to thank you all for your reviews. I love reading them! This is a short chapter, but I am also taking this time to mention a couple of anouncements and to answer a few questions.

Now, to answer a couple questions: Yuffie may or may not be in this fan fiction. If not, then I will make another fan fiction when this one is over when Calvin and Hobbes have a mini-adventure with Yuffie in Wutai. If so, then this will be how Yuffie comes into the story. I'm still debating. What will happen, you ask? I can't tell. You'll just have to read and figure out. I wouldn't mind your input, though.

Second: There will not be any other Calvin and Hobbes characters in this fan fiction… just Calvin and Hobbes. Although there will be references and mentioning of certain characters.

Finally, this story is not going to just reflect the actual FFVII storyline. There will be chapters and events that I will invent for fun. I hope you enjoy them. Also, I'm open for any ideas. If you have any, I would love to hear them. I may or may not take them, mind you.

Well, that's all for now. If you have more questions, just post them in the reviews. Now, on with the story.

Chapter Fourteen: Seto: The Great Warrior

Bugenhagen led Red XIII through the hole in the cave wall that led to the outside of Cosmo Canyon However, Red XIII was so excited about what it was that Bugenhagen was about to show him that he sprinted past him outside. Cloud and Hobbes followed.

Outside, Red XIII was eagerly looking around him to see if he could find what he was supposed to see. However, he wasn't having very much luck. Bugenhagen arrived seconds later.

"Grandfather, what is it that you wanted to show me?" Red XIII asked eagerly.

"The warrior that went through the caves to protect our tribe during the war," Bugenhagen explained. "He resides out here even today."

"Where is this warrior? Who is it?" Red asked.

"Look up and see for yourself," Bugenhagen replied.

Red XIII looked up to where Bugenhagen was pointing. He saw a stone figure that looked like it had arrows sticking out of it. The figure had a remarkable resemblance to Red XIII. When Cloud and Hobbes looked at it, they seemed confused. Red XIII, however, was shocked.

"Is…is that?"

"Look, Nanaki," Bugenhagen said comfortably. "Look at your father, the great warrior Seto."

Hobbes' ears perked up at the sound of those words.

"His father?"

"Yes," Bugenhagen explained. "It was him, Seto, which went through the caves, fighting off the Gi tribe and protecting Cosmo Canyon. Even when he had petrifying arrows pierced through his skin, he continued to fight. He fought until the last of the Gi tribe had been killed. Even as he stands up there petrified, he continues to protect us, not allowing anyone into our canyon."

Red XIII seemed shocked as he was trying to absorb all he had just heard. He had taken his father for a coward all of these years when in reality, he was the bravest warrior in Cosmo Canyon. He never felt so ashamed of himself, nor did he fell so proud of his race, his canyon, and his father. It was the first time he felt pride for his father. He was speechless.

"Wow!" Hobbes said in awe. "I come from a canyon where numerous warriors are born! Man, I wish I could remember what Seto was like. It would be an honor to me if I could say that I knew him. No, I take that back, It would be a true honor if I could call him a father. Right Red? I mean, you must be so proud of him! He defended your whole canyon and everyone living in it by himself pretty much! If that doesn't make someone proud of him then I don't know what will! I mean…"

However, as Hobbes continued his excited monologue, Red XIII continued to say nothing for quite some time.

After a minute or two more of silence, he finally muttered quietly, "…father…"

Hobbes must have heard Red XIII say this, because he instantly stopped speaking.

"I'm sorry," he said sympathetically. "I didn't mean to go out on an edge like that."

"No, it's not that," Red XIII assured. "It's just...well…"

"I know the feeling," Hobbes assured. "I thought my parents abandoned me when I was a cub, but they were warriors and I didn't even know they were warriors. I remember the shock I got when I found out. I still get goose bumps thinking about it…not that that's a bad thing, mind you."

"Cloud…Hobbes…" Bugenhagen interrupted. "Could you leave the two of us alone for a minute? I need to have a word with Nanaki."

Both Cloud and Hobbes nodded and started to head back to the Cosmo Candle.


	15. Cloud vs Hobbes

Chapter Fifteen: Cloud vs. Hobbes

"Do you think he'll still want to go with us?" Hobbes asked anxiously as they reentered the cave.

"I dunno," Cloud replied unsurely. "After hearing about what his father did for this place, he might want to follow in his father's footsteps. And protect Cosmo Canyon. What about you?"

"Me? I would like to stay here, but the adventure you guys are going on has already become too intense for me to just stop here. I want to see this adventure through to the end. Plus, I can't leave Calvin alone. He needs me."

"You got that right," Cloud replied. "Also, we need you to keep the little monster in line."

Both Cloud and Hobbes laughed at this statement.

"Speaking of which, how do you suppose the others are handling Calvin?" Hobbes grinned.

"I don't know. We'd better hurry back."

"Hold on," Hobbes said instantly, looking at something. "What's that?"

Both Cloud and Hobbes looked at a small, shiny object on the ground. As they walked closer to it, it appeared to be a green orb.

"Magic Materia," Cloud said instantly.

"What kind?"

"I'll let you find out," Cloud said, handing the orb to Hobbes.

Remembering what Cloud taught him in the buggy, Hobbes closed his eyes and waited for the Cetra to speak to him. Soon, he heard the voices.

"Stars…space…gravity…GRAVITY!"

"Gravity materia," Hobbes replied.

"Great! I don't have any of that kind yet," Cloud said eagerly. "I'm adding it to my collection."

"Wait a minute, I found it," Hobbes protested.

"So what? What do you want with it?"

"I want to use it!"

"Please, Hobbes, I can use all five types of materia. You've only used magic materia."

"So what? This IS magic materia."

"But you don't know how to use materia that well yet. Plus, this spell is more advanced."

"I'm sure I can learn it quickly," Hobbes countered. "After all, we tiger's are fast learners."

Cloud thought for a minute and finally said, "Tell you what…why don't we put that to a test? Let's have a contest. While we're going back to the others, let's see who can kill the most monsters. The winner gets to have the gravity materia."

Hobbes thought about this for a minute. This did seem like the logic and fair way to settle this argument. But what was the catch?

After thinking about it for a few minutes, Hobbes finally said, "You've got a deal," and shook his hand.

"Now, let me explain the rules," Cloud began. "Rule Number One: We'll have a ten minute time limit in each of the four rooms, totaling to forty minutes for the contest."

"Fair enough," Hobbes replied.

"Rule Number Two: We can't interfere with each other's battles. We're on our own."

"Of course."

"Rule Number Three: If one of us can no longer fight, then the contest is over and the other person automatically wins the materia."

"I guess that's fair. Any more rules?"

"That's it. May the best man win," Cloud said as he held out his hand one more time.

"Wrong…may the best TIGER win," Hobbes replied and responded to Cloud's hand with a paw shake.

Soon, Cloud and Hobbes had prepared themselves for the challenge. Cloud had selected his strongest sword and had equipped some of his best materia in it. Hobbes readied the tiger claw fists that Tifa had given him and equipped them with all three of his materia: Earth, Ice, and Restore. Cloud just chuckled as he watched Hobbes jog in place, warming up for the challenge.

"This'll be easy," he thought to himself. "Are you ready, Hobbes?"

"As ready as I'll ever be," the tiger responded.

"On your mark…get set…GO!" Cloud shouted as they sprinted into the next room.

Cloud immediately ran to the right as he charged some flying creatures. He prepared his sword and began to destroy the creatures. Meanwhile, Hobbes was conjuring up an ice spell to fire on another giant spider. The spider was stronger than Hobbes had anticipated and it took him five minutes to destroy it. Cloud had already destroyed seven monsters and was working on number eight, nine, and ten. Hobbes had found a pack of beasts like the ones he had stumbled upon in the first room and began to work on eliminating them.

"ICE!" Hobbes shouted as an ice spell struck one of the beasts, eliminating it. He then pounced on the remaining two at the same time, biting and scratching at them.

Cloud had just sliced through a pack of beasts and quickly checked his watch as a spider was advancing on him.

"Still have two minutes," he mumbled to himself. "I can't kill a spider in two minutes…unless…CLIMHAZZARD!"

Cloud was surrounded by the bright aura and dashed forward and stuck his sword right into the spider and jumped up, slicing it in two nice, even pieces.

"Thirteen," Cloud chuckled to himself as he watched the clock tick down to zero.

Hobbes had just beaten down a flying Gi Warrior when he heard Cloud call to him.

"Time's up slowpoke! How many did you kill?"

"Just five," Hobbes sighed.

"Thirteen! You sure you still want to do this?"

"I've never been surer in my life!" Hobbes called.

"Onto the next room then," Cloud said in a teasing way.

The next room was the one filled with lava. Already, monsters were coming out of their hiding as they heard Cloud and Hobbes speaking.

"Again, ten minutes," Cloud said.

"Don't wait up," Hobbes replied as he went for the creatures and Cloud pursued.

Hobbes was against more beast creatures like in the last room. The cave seemed to be crawling with those monsters.

"ICE! ICE! ICE!" Hobbes shouted as three separate ice spells shot out of his hand and hit each monster, though it didn't quite kill them. Hobbes finished them off with the tiger claw fists.

Meanwhile, Cloud was focusing on a group of Gi Warriors. He had summoned a group of fire spells that struck each target and finished them off with a swing of his sword. He was looking to sneak up on a lone Gi Warrior when an ice spell breezed past him and pierced through the heart of the warrior, killing it on impact. Cloud turned around to see Hobbes smiling.

'What do you have to say to THAT?" Hobbes laughed.

Cloud and Hobbes continued to destroy monsters until the time expired in that room. In the end, Hobbes killed a total of thirteen monsters and Cloud managed to finish off eleven. The overall score was now eighteen to twenty-four.

It was time for the final room. After this room, they would be back in Cosmo Canyon and one of them would have the gravity materia.

"This room decides who wins," Cloud said, looking around for monsters. "You ready for this?"

"You bet!" Hobbes said, looking ready for anything.

"Well then…GO!"

Cloud and Hobbes raced off to search for more monsters. Cloud managed to kill a Gi beast while Hobbes used his ice spell to kill three Gi Warriors.

"You have to do better than that!" Cloud shouted over to Hobbes.

"I'll win that materia! You'll see!" Hobbes shouted, firing an ice spell at another Gi Warrior.

This time, however, the ice spell missed the creature and it hit the wall behind it. The wall gave away to show a hole behind the wall. Seconds after the hole was revealed, Gi beasts and Gi Warriors began to come out of the hole like water through the faucet of a bath tub. Soon, Cloud and Hobbes were outnumbered twenty-five to one, but the beasts kept coming.

"We must have struck their nest!" Cloud shouted as he continued to fight off monsters that were attacking him.

"YOU THINK?" Hobbes shouted sarcastically as he tried to hit a group of beasts with his ice spell, hoping to kill more than one with each time ice was cast.

No matter how many creatures that were killed, more and more continued to come out of the hole. Soon, the room was practically flooded with monsters. Cloud and Hobbes barely had room to move around or fight.

"IT'S HOPELESS!" Cloud shouted as he was bitten by a beast and scratched by the spear of a warrior. Hobbes was starting to suffer greatly to.

Soon, there were no more monsters coming out of the hole, but by now, every square inch of the room was crawling with monsters looking to take the lives of Cloud and Hobbes.

Then, Hobbes felt a familiar surge of energy and anger flow through his veins.

"EYE OF THE TIGER!" he shouted as the laser emerged from his eyes again, eliminating any monster that stood in the ray's path. After the ray had submerged, Hobbes saw he had room to move and time to summon another ice spell, but not a lot as more monsters came for him.

"I could use ice again, but that would only kill a few and by then, they'll be on me again…and I can't take too much more of that," Hobbes thought. "There's no way I'm coming out of this alive…unless…it's risky, but I have no choice."

"BLADE BEAM!" Cloud shouted as his sword unleashed a powerful ray of energy that struck one monster and spread out and hit every other monster in the room, though it only killed the one it first struck. By now, Cloud had suffered three deep cuts by the beasts and his arms had severe bite marks on them. He was loosing strength fast and the monsters almost had him pinned to the ground.

"This is it…" Cloud thought to himself. "I'm gonna die..."

He closed his eyes and waited for it to end as the monsters kept clawing at him. Soon, though, the clawing stopped. He opened his eyes, expecting to be in the afterlife, but instead saw himself surrounded by a strange barrier. This barrier had ancient writings that looked like hieroglyphics and the barrier itself was invisible. The monsters were still trying to get to him, but could not pass through the barrier.

"What the…" Cloud thought.

He looked over at Hobbes to see if he was surrounded by a barrier and he was, but it looked like Hobbes was chanting something.

"Ramuh, mighty elder of lightning, come forth and strike our foes with your staff and bring them to justice! BOLT FIST!"

At that moment, the earth beneath them began to upheaval until it formed a small mountain that was flowing with lightning. Then, in a flash, an elderly man appeared at the top of that mountain. He was wearing white robes and held a might staff in his hands. It seemed as if that staff was what was producing the lightning.

Ramuh then looked down and saw the monsters that were attacking Cloud and Hobbes. He then conjured all the lightning in the room into his staff. Once it was all collected, he held his staff up high and released the lightning, electrocuting all of the monsters into oblivion. Hobbes and Cloud were safe from this attack due to the ancient barrier that was surrounding them. Once all the monsters were dead, Ramuh vanished along with the barriers.

Cloud just sat there in shock as to what just happened.

"HOBBES USED SUMMON MATERIA!" he shouted. "BUT…BUT…BUT WHERE DID YOU GET IT?"

"Back at the chocobo racing track," Hobbes said, healing himself with a cure spell and drinking ether.

_Hobbes was watching the screen, cheering on Calvin despite the fact that Calvin was making a complete fool of himself. _

"_I knew he should have just let Cloud do it," Hobbes thought to himself. "Hey, as long as I'm up here, I might as well get something to drink. Being tin that desert prison has really made me thirsty." _

_Hobbes went into the jockey's room, hoping to find someone willing to give him a drink of water or something. Upon entering the room, much to his dismay, there was no one in there, nor was there anything to drink. On top of that, he could not go into the Gold Saucer to get one because he was considered a prisoner. _

"_Calvin had better win that race or I swear I'm going to bite him hard this time…right on the butt!" _

_He sat down in a chair, turning his eyes back to the television. Then, something beneath the television caught his eyes. He looked down and saw a bright, red orb on the ground. It looked like a ruby…sort of. _

"_I'll bet this would make a great necklace," Hobbes thought to himself as he picked it up. "Maybe I'll find another one just like it. Then I can make two necklaces…one for Tifa and another one for Aeris…oh, Hobbes, you are so smart!" _

_All of a sudden, voices began to rush through Hobbes' head. _

"…_Elder of lightning…Bolt Fist…Ramuh!" _

_Hobbes looked around the room, but saw no one. Confused, he looked back at the stone, admiring it. _

"_Ramuh…RAMUH!" _

_Hobbes yelped and dropped the stone. The stone immediately stopped glowing as it hit the ground. _

_Hobbes hesitated, but picked it up again. Once again, the stone began to glow. This time, Hobbes heard something else. _

"_Take this stone…with it, you will be able to do many great things…" _

"_What IS this?" Hobbes shivered. "What are these voices? And what do they mean by 'with it, you shall do great things?" _

_Hobbes' thoughts were interrupted when a prison guard came up to him, saying that he and his friends were now free because Calvin had won the race. _

_Hobbes quickly hid the stone in his pocket and followed the guard. _

"_Should I show this to Cloud?" Hobbes thought to himself. "I don't know yet…I'll see in a little bit." _

Cloud could not believe it. Hobbes had just joined their adventure and already he could handle summon materia.

"I've never seen anything like this before," Cloud muttered. "It's almost impossible! But how…I mean, how…how…"

"…and how about my gravity materia?" Hobbes asked, holding out his paw.

"What?"

"The contest, remember? I believe that I summoned Ramuh that killed a crap load of those monsters…if not, all of them. I believe that puts me in the lead and the ten minute time limit in this room has passed. That means, I win. Therefore, I get the gravity materia."

Cloud stood still in shock. Hobbes was right. Silently and awing, he gave Hobbes the materia.

"I think I can handle this if I can handle summon materia…right?"

"I…I suppose so," Cloud managed to say. "I underestimated you, Hobbes. Well done." With that, he held out his hand in defeat.

Hobbes, being the good sport he was, shook Cloud's hand in respect. With that, they both made their way back into the dawn of day that was rising over Cosmo Canyon.

A/N: Whew! That was exhausting! Hope you like it. You will see more originality like this throughout the story. Please review! Next chapter, Calvin and Hobbes learn more about Cloud's past with Sephiroth as they come upon a strange sight. Stay tuned.


	16. Revisiting the Past

Chapter Sixteen: Revisiting The Past

Cloud and Hobbes finally made it through the cave and surfaced to daylight. They looked at one another to see that they were pitch-black.

"We make Barret look white, don't we?" Cloud chuckled.

"I need to jump in a pond to clean off," Hobbes said, looking at himself.

"Let's go back to the candle and meet everyone."

When they went back there, they saw that all but Cait Sith and Barret had fallen asleep. Tifa was leaning on Barret's shoulder. And Calvin was sleeping on Aeris' lap.

"Wake up, everyone!" Cloud shouted.

"SPIFF FIGHTS BACK!" Calvin shouted as he jolted awake and sat up.

"Hey, how'd it go?" Aeris asked as she rubbed her eyes.

"It went well," Cloud replied. "Hobbes here is quite the fighter. His parents and tribe would be very proud."

Hobbes blushed furiously at these words, ut felt proud nonetheless.

"Where's Red XIII?" Tifa asked.

"He and Bugenhagen hung back, talking about something."

"About him staying here?" Aeris asked in a more timid voice. Cloud nodded his head.

"Do you think he will?" Calvin asked.

"Hard to say, but it looks like he will." Cloud sighed.

"Well, they got the buggy fixed," Barret added. "We can finally leave and continue our search for Sephiroth."

Before everyone got up, they stood still for a few minutes, thinking back about Red XIII. He had proven to be very useful up to here.

"We'll miss you, Red XIII" Aeris said aloud to no one in particular.

"Yeah…ya came in handy at times," Barret added.

"…I guess this is good-bye…brother," Hobbes sighed.

With that, they all got up and stated to walk towards the exit of Cosmo Canyon. They were steps from leaving when they heard, "GUYS! WAIT UP!"

Everyone turned around to see Red XIII running at them, looking very excited.

"I've decided to continue along with you, sticking by you until the very end."

"Why?" Cloud asked. "I mean, what made you change your mind?"

"The fact that I grew up a little bit today, that's what. I think I understand what my father would want me to do in a situation like this and I feel that Cosmo Canyon should have a representative throughout what seems to be one of the greatest adventures throughout time. Therefore, I wish to come with you…that is, if I am still invited to."

"Wouldn't have it any other way," Cloud said. "Glad to have you back, Red XIII"

At that point, Bugenhagen had floated over to them again.

"Cloud, please watch over Nanaki. Promise you will bring him back here throughout your adventure whenever possible."

"It's a promise."

"Hobbes, you come back as well. Understand?"

"Yes sir," Hobbes said, saluting him.

"Well, we need to get going," Cloud said, after Bugenhagen gave his grandson a hug.

"Ho, ho, ho!" he chuckled. "Come back whenever you need my wisdom!"

"We will!" Hobbes shouted.

On the way to the buggy, they all stopped at a nearby pond so that Cloud and Hobbes could wash up as well as the rest of the gang.

Calvin had taken his clothes off and actually jumped into the pond, swimming around in it.

"You guys should come in! The water feels great!" Calvin said.

"Sorry, Calvin, but the rest of us don't have any other clothes or swimming suits. Plus, we need to get going. Sephiroth is still out there and I really want to get some answers about my past," Cloud said.

"I want answers, too," Aeris and Tifa said together.

"Also, when we kill this jack ass, the planet will finally be safe for a while and it's my job to make sure it stays that way!" Barret added, shooting a couple of bullets from his gun-arm into the air.

"Tell me," Calvin said while back-stroking, "why is it you guys are actually after this guy?"

"Because," Cloud began, "Five years ago, Sephiroth figured out that he was actually created in a horrifying experience and that caused him to hate everyone. He figured out that he was created through an ancient named Jenova. After this, he started referring to her as mother and started saying that we took this planet from her years ago when he read through a series of books…"

"Who has time to read nowadays?" Calvin asked in disgust.

Cloud just sighed and continued to explain.

"These books describe how Jenova came to this earth from a rock that fell from the sky and was believed to have been the mother of what was supposed to be the dominant race on this planet…the Ancients."

"Say, aren't you an Ancient Aeris?" Calvin asked as he began to forward stroke.

"Yes, she is," Cloud said. "Now, let me finish the story.

"It was believed that the human race at the time attacked the Ancients that were on the planet after some time passed…the Shinra to be precise. They defeated almost all of them and became the new owners of the planet. Jenova, however, wasn't quite dead. So instead of finishing her, the Shinra took her into custody and put her in a research facility. After conducting years of study on her, they came to find out that she had power to create certain magic and special orbs."

"Materia?" Hobbes asked, observing his new gravity materia.

"Right. Anyways, the Shinra then came up with a sick idea, which was led by a mad Shinra scientist names Hojo. They decided to conserve her powers in a gigantic tube in a reactor in the mountains of Neibelheim. There, they took people and put them into tubes that were connected Jenova's. Then, they took her powers and transferred to those people, making them super weapons."

"THAT'S INHUMANE!" Calvin shouted, outraged.

"Yes, and Sephiroth thinks do, too. That's what caused him to go insane. At first, he thought that when he was born that he just had super genes from his parents or something, but he found that his mother was actually an Ancient and that he was created in an experiment and that was how he gained his powers. This caused him to go mad and to hate the Shinra. Soon, he came to hate everyone else in the world. He claimed that the humans of this earth took the planet from Jenova and his race and that it was time that the planet was returned to her."

Hobbes just stared at Cloud in amazement and shock.

"That's rough," was all Hobbes managed to get out.

"So, what's this got to do with us?" Calvin asked, getting his head wet.

"Well, for starters," Barret said. "Sephiroth wants to destroy that planet that supports human life for everyone…including us and I don't wanna die because of some sick psycho that wants the planet for himself."

"Secondly," Cloud began. "I and my hometown were the first victims of Sephiroth's rampage after he found out his past. He found those reports in the library of the mansion in Neibelheim, where Tifa and I grew up."

"Childhood friends?" Hobbes asked.

"Yup!" Tifa said enthusiastically, putting an arm around Cloud in a buddy-buddy way.

"Anyways, once he went mad, he walked outside the mansion and burned down our town and killed a good number of people living in it. I was working with him at the time as a member of Shinra SOLDIER. That's what caused him to become so angry and burn down our town: he felt that he was serving a bunch of traitors and that we did not deserve to live. So he set our town on fire…destroying my life that I once knew. That's why I'm after him: to find the truth and to kill him."

"Well, if that's the case," Hobbes said after a few minutes of silent reflecting, "then I will help you to see this through until the very end."

"Same here!" Calvin said. "All this talk about being created by something from outer space sounds cool…plus to say I killed an alien would defiantly make me the coolest kid in school!"

Everyone just sighed at Calvin's immature comments.

"Anyways," Tifa said, "the buggy looks brand new. We should probably get going."

"She's right. Calvin you should probably come out of the pond and dry off now." Red XIII said grabbing Calvin's clothes with his mouth and dropping them on the shore.

"I'm not clean yet!" Calvin protested. "I'll get out when I'm good and ready!"

Before anyone could argue further, Hobbes walked forward and fired an ice spell into the pond, causing Calvin to jump fifty feet into the air, landing into the pond again and started to scramble towards shore.

"I-I-I'm-m-m r-r-r-e-e-a-a-d-d-y-y-y-y," Calvin shivered.

"Good and," Hobbes chuckled.

Once Calvin got his clothes back on, everyone went to the buggy and they were on their way once again.

"So, where do we go now?" Cait Sith asked.

"I…really don't know," Cloud responded honestly. "I would assume we head towards those mountains."

"Hey, what about that town over there?" Red XIII asked, motioning over to their right. "Maybe they've heard something about Sephiroth."

Taking Red XIII's advice, Cloud drove the buggy over to the town that was at the base of the mountain. As they got closer, they noticed that Cloud's face was becoming pale and looked shocked. After about a few minutes, they had finally arrived at the town. By now, Cloud looked like he was in a far away place.

"…Cloud…" Tifa asked, looking shocked as well. "…is this…"

"Neibelheim?"


	17. Shinra Mansion

Chapter Seventeen: Shinra Mansion

"Neibelheim? But I thought…" Red XIII began, sounding puzzled.

"I…I don't understand," Cloud stuttered.

"What the hell's goin on here?" Barret demanded.

"Something smells fishy here…and it's not Hobbes' breath," Calvin stated, glaring at Cloud.

"HEY!" Hobbes snarled.

"…Cloud…what's going on?" Aeris said, speaking barely above a whisper.

"Cloud, did you make up that story so we would come with you?" Cait Sith demanded.

"NO!" Cloud shouted in frustration. "I'M NOT LYING!"

"Cloud…calm down, please," Tifa begged, almost looking like she was about to burst in tears.

"I know…I'm not lying," Cloud repeated. "I remember it like it was yesterday…the heat of the fire…the screams of the night…WHY WOULD I MAKE SOMETHING LIKE THAT UP?" he demanded.

"Cloud…just relax," Aeris said calmly.

"We're not saying we don't believe you," Red XIII added. "We just want to know what's going on? Why is Neibelheim standing when it was burned down?"

"Maybe they rebuilt it," Hobbes suggested.

"No…they couldn't have," Tifa said, looking around. "The buildings look exactly the same. Even my house looks no different from the night it all burned."

"See, even Tifa recalls it," Cloud said, sounding upset again.

"Just stay calm," Aeris pleaded. "Why don't we split up and look around. Maybe we'll find something or someone that can answer our questions."

"…all right," Cloud said above a whisper. "But, I know what happened. I know it happened."

After Cloud regained his senses, they all began to explore the town. Tifa and Cloud explored their houses while Aeris and Red XIII explored other buildings. Cait Sith and Barret were asking questions to the villagers and Calvin and Hobbes were searching the ground and the outdoor area.

"I tell ya, it doesn't make a lick of sense to me," Calvin grunted.

"Well, is you'd stop whining and start helping me look, maybe it will start to make sense," Hobbes huffed while sniffing the bushes.

"NO, YOU NINCOMPOOP! I mean why is it that we're stuck doing the dirty work? Why can't we go into a building and start exploring for clues?"

"This isn't a treasure hunt Calvin," Hobbes said. "It's not like our dinosaur digs. Cloud's really confused right now. We need to do whatever it takes to help him get the answers he's looking for."

"Well, in that case, why don't we check out that building over there?" Calvin replied, pointing to a gigantic building to the north.

Calvin and Hobbes slowly approached the door to the mansion and read the sign on the door.

_Warning: Private property of Shinra. Keep Out! _

"I'll bet all of our answers are in here," Calvin said proudly.

"Hold on, Calvin. There's a law when it comes to invading private property and there have been stranger things happen to those that take part in Shinra organized research. Count me out of this one."

"Come on, Hobbes. Didn't you just say that you'd do whatever you could to help Cloud?"

Hobbes stopped walking away for a second, realizing what Calvin said was indeed true. Besides, if it was private, that meant that something important happened that Shinra didn't want people to know about.

"Besides, whoever put up this sign has to be long gone. Come on, we'll only look around for a few minutes."

Hobbes hesitated, but finally said, "All right…but you're taking full responsibility if anything bad happens, all right?"

"Deal. Now let's go!"

Calvin and Hobbes made sure that no one was looking as they snuck into the mansion. Inside the mansion was spooky indeed. In fact, it looked as though it could have been haunted…not that it couldn't be already. The furniture was rotted and the walls had worn paint. Plus, the structure did not look as strong as it once was.

"Man, talk about a serious fixer-upper," Calvin snorted.

"ACHOO! It needth duthting," Hobbes sniffled as he blew his nose.

"Well, come on, let's hurry up before anyone realizes we're in here," Calvin said as he immediately walked into a room.

The mansion was full of junk from the past. Calvin couldn't even read any of the reports that he found. All of them were about mako reactors and history missions or experiments performed by Shinra.

"I can't even pass my math tests," Calvin grumbled. "How can they expect me to understand this garbage?"

"CALVIN! I found something cool!" Hobbes shouted from another room.

Calvin sprinted from his room to the next, expecting that Hobbes had found some report that he could actually read or a deformed monster that he could fight or convince to join them.

"WHAT? WHAT DOD YOU FIND?" Calvin asked excitedly, gasping for breath.

"Doesn't it look great on me?" Hobbes asked as he was showing off a cape he had put around his neck. The cape was white and went all the way from Hobbes' neck to the floor.

"YOU NINCOMPOOP!" Calvin shouted. "We're supposed to be looking for clues about this town, not some stupid clothes!"

"Well, that doesn't mean I can't keep some of the things I find for souvenirs, does it? Besides, you have a cape, too."

"Yeah, but mine comes with a mask and I only put it on for special occasions: when Stupendous Man has to save the day!"

"Well, I don't care. I like my new cape," Hobbes said proudly as he twirled around, letting the cape fly gracefully.

"Fine, you can keep the stupid cape," Calvin sighed. "Just keep your eyes open for any clues."

Calvin hadn't even stepped out of the room when Hobbes called his attention again.

"Oh, what a strange looking bracelet," Hobbes said, holding a silver bracelet so Calvin could see it. "I wonder why this mansion has this kind of stuff in it. Were there women working in here too, you think?"

"Yeah, Hobbes, there were. There was also a superhero in here too, which explains the cape. WILL YOU STAY FOCUSED, BRAINLESS?"

"Okay, sheesh…but I'm keeping the bracelet, too."

Calvin rolled his eyes and began to walk out of the room again. Yet again, Hobbes called Calvin.

"Hey, Calvin, you should see this."

"So help me Hobbes, if you're calling me over to show me some stupid necklace or something like that, I'll…"

"No, it's nothing like that. It's a paper with writing on it."

"Oh…what's it say?" Calvin asked, sounding intrigued.

"Well, let's see…

To Whom It May Concern:

Several years ago, I, Hojo, head of the Shinra Science Department, had conducted a series of experiments on numerous creatures and even humans. Although all of my findings were intriguing, almost none of them were as interesting as those experiments that were done on five certain humans. One of them being the great Sephiroth, two of whom were former members of Soldier, one was a small infant, and another was a close, personal friend of mine at one point in time.

For some reason or another, only three of these five were capable of storing the cells of Jenova in their blood stream. One of them, of course, was the great Sephiroth. Another was, surprisingly, the small infant. The third was my "friend". The other two managed to escape my research facility in this mansion about one year ago, which was four years after I started experimenting on them after the incident in Neibelheim. One was killed and the other was left to die…though it is to this very day unknown what his fate was. Before the incident occurred, I was never able to finish my experiments on the young infant, so it was put up for adoption. As for Sephiroth, they say he was killed, but I know that is not true.

As I am writing this report, only one of my experiments can be located…my "friend". He is, in fact, in this very mansion. If you wish to observe this experiment, then you must open the safe on the second floor of this mansion. There, you will receive your next instructions.

I could give you the combination to the safe, but that would make it far too easy. Therefore, I will eave it up to you, the reader, to figure out this combination. Consider it a test to see if you are worthy of meeting my experiment…that is, if he is still alive.

Head of the Shinra Science Department:

Hojo

Calvin and Hobbes studied the letter a couple more times to make sure they got everything.

"That…that's sick…" Hobbes said in shock. "I can't believe that man would perform Jenova experiments on five human beings…much less an infant."

"Who cares?" Calvin demanded. "We need to get to that safe upstairs. The answers we're looking for about what happened to this town could be in that safe."

"I don't know about this, Calvin. Maybe we should just leave it alone. I have a bad feeling about this."

"Aw, come on. Don't you want to help Cloud?"

"How would this be helping Cloud?"

"Well, the letter talks about events that happened here five years ago and Cloud claims that the village was burned five years ago. Coincidence? I think not."

Hobbes thought about it for a minute. For once, Calvin was making sense.

"…all right, but if something smells fishy, then we're getting out of here. Got it?"

"Agreed. Now come on!"

Calvin led the way as he and Hobbes creaked up the stairs in the mansion. They were sure to walk slowly for the steps were weak and could give out any second. Finally, they reached the top floor, which looked to be in worse shape than the bottom floor. The metal was rusted and the wood was cracked. The building was indeed weak in structure.

"Where is that safe?" Calvin asked, frustrated.

"Hey, that must be it," Hobbes replied, pointing to a safe that was as big as the room.

"The question is…how are we going to open that monster?" Hobbes asked.

"Good thing I have my Swiss-army knife with me," Calvin said as he pulled it out of his pocket. "I'll just unscrew the bolts holding the door on."

"Calvin…those bolts are way too big for your knife to handle. How are you going to take it apart with that little thing?"

"Hm…you're right….well, what are we going to do?"

Calvin and Hobbes sat down and began to think. After ten minutes, Hobbes finally came up with an idea. He stood up and looked at the safe, closed his eyes, and began to focus.

"ICE!" he shouted and a block of ice shot at the safe.

"HOW'D YA DO THAT?" Calvin asked, shocked.

"The materia," Hobbes answered. "The green materia allows us to cast magic, remember? All you have to do is focus hard on the spell that you want to cast and if you focus on nothing but that, then you'll cast the spell."

"Really? Here, let me try. I have lightning. Maybe I can blow that thing to pieces."

Calvin stood up and made sure he had his lightning materia equipped. He then closed his eyes and started to focus.

"Nothing's happening," Calvin replied, frustrated.

"Just focus," Hobbes explained. "You'll know when the spell is conjured. You'll feel a surge through your body. Try again."

Calvin sighed and began to focus again. He cleared his head of all thoughts except the lightning spell. He thought of nothing but the bolt of lightning he wanted to zap the safe. Suddenly, after a few minutes, he felt his body start to shake as if it were being electrocuted. He then felt that feeling go to his hands. Suddenly, something in his head told him that the spell was ready.

"BOLT!" Calvin shouted spontaneously. He felt the power from his hands shoot up over the safe and like magic, a bolt of lightning zapped the safe door, blowing off the handle.

"I DID IT!" Calvin shouted, all excited. "I knew I could do it!"

Hobbes just rolled his eyes and began to work at opening the safe door. Calvin soon began to help after complimenting himself for five minutes.

"So, what do you think is behind this door?" Hobbes asked.

"Maybe a map, or a secret code, or even a secret passage leading to whoever that guy is that Hojo guy was talking about."

"Or it could even be the man himself," Hobbes replied.

"Well, let's get his thing open! Come on, chop-chop! We're burning daylight."

Calvin and Hobbes finally got the door a quarter of the way open, despite Hobbes' headache from Calvin shouting 'OPEN' after each tug.

"There. That's wide enough for us to get in," Calvin panted.

Hobbes was about to say something, but a low growl cut him off. Calvin even looked spooked at the noise.

"H-H-Hobbes…tell me that was your stomach."

The growl soon turned into a roar and it sounded like it had just awaked from a long sleep, ready to eat.

"It's coming from the safe," Hobbes whispered.

Calvin and Hobbes peaked into the safe to see two blood-red eyes looking directly at them.


	18. The Lost Battle

Chapter Eighteen: The Lost Battle

"CLOSE THE SAFE!" Calvin shouted. "CLOSE IT! CLOSE IT! CLOSE IT!"

Calvin and Hobbes were frantically pushing on the safe, but before they could get it to budge, the door was flung open with no effort put behind it, sending Calvin and Hobbes flying into a wall.

"I need to learn my crash landings" Hobbes told himself as he sat up rubbing the back of is head.

He looked over at Calvin, who was staring back at the safe with eyes wider than dinner plates. Hobbes looked at the safe as well to see one of the most hideous creatures to ever exist on the planet. It was some monster that looked like it had two figures to it. One side appeared to have purple skin that had a human-like figure to it. The other half had yellow fur and it almost looked like a star-fish. The monster was indeed glaring at them, licking its chomps.

"WHAT THE HECK IS THAT THING?" Calvin screamed with terror.

"I don't know, but I don't think it wants to play," Hobbes replied, sounding just as scared.

The monster lunged forward at the two friends, who immediately got out of the way before its gigantic head could ram them into the wall. The monster's head collided with the wall at full speed, knocking it senseless.

"HA! DON'T MESS WITH US, YOU STUPID OTH!" Calvin teased.

The monster, however, recovered immediately and turned towards Calvin and Hobbes again.

"Let's split up!" Hobbes suggested, running left. Calvin agreed and ran to the right.

While running, Hobbes heard giant footsteps behind him. He turned around to be greeted by a purple fist, pounding his body and sending through a wall. Hobbes shook off the attack and prepared for battle. He began to focus on a spell.

The creature was about to charge again when he felt instant pain in his back in three different spots. It turned around to see Calvin, who had fired three shots from his dart gun that were juiced up by his deathblow materia.

Meanwhile, Hobbes had conjured up a spell and was ready to cast it.

"QUAKE!"

Before the monster got a chance to get its revenge on Calvin, he felt the ground underneath open up. He sank in where the sand trap had suddenly appeared. Before he knew what to do next, the sand trap had closed back up, trapping the monsters feet where the trap once was into the floor.

"ALL RIGHT!" Calvin shouted. "Who wants free shots at the butt-ugly monster?" with that statement, he began to fire numerous darts at the monster, each of them powered up from the deathblow materia.

The monster did not stay stuck for long as it easily pulled its feet out of the floor and charged Calvin and Hobbes again.

Calvin managed to get out of the way by rolling through the monsters legs, but Hobbes was not so lucky. With its one fist, the monster punched Hobbes and sent him flying into the safe the monster had been locked in.

Headache and all, Hobbes managed to get back to his feet and was about to run at the monster again, but something on the ground caught his eye. It was round and had a red shine.

"MATERIA!" Hobbes shouted.

He quickly picked it up and recognized it to be summoning materia. Closing his eyes, he focused, trying to figure out what mysterious power was within the materia. After a minute, the voices of the Ancients came to his head, answering his question.

"Warrior of Darkness…Zantetzuken…Odin"

"Sounds powerful," Hobbes said in awe at the sight of the orb.

"HOBBES! WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING IN THERE?" Calvin demanded as he ran by the safe, firing darts as fast as he could at the monster, which was right behind him in pursuit.

The monster suddenly stopped dead in its tracks and appeared to be catching its breath. Calvin stopped running as well, looking at the monster.

'Should I charge?' Calvin thought to himself.

"No…I'll use a magic spell…I can do it as long as that looser is standing still," he smirked as he began to concentrate.

As he focused, he felt an aura suddenly arouse him; much like the one he felt when he had summoned the lightning spell. In fact, it felt like the lightning spell itself. What Calvin didn't know was that the monster had summoned a magic attack of his own as Calvin was struck by a massive lightning spell, knocking him off his feet and landing in a pile of rubble. When Calvin finally found the energy to open his eyes, he saw that the monster was a mere three feet away from him. He was too weak to shout for help, so he closed his eyes and waited for the end to come.

As the monster was finally upon Calvin, it lifted its massive fist to finish him off. As he slammed his fist down, it came into contact with what appeared to be a magical barrier surrounding Calvin. It tried to hit him again, but no matter how hard he hit the barrier, it would not break. Calvin was just as confused about the barrier as the monster was.

Suddenly, like magic, it started raining inside the mansion as dark, stormy clouds appeared out of nowhere. They soon became so thick that neither Calvin nor the monster could see anything. However, the strange barrier was protecting Calvin from the rain and the lightning flashes that were appearing in the sky.

A mere five feet from the monster, a large black hole had conjured up as the monster studied it with curiosity. Then, like magic, something emerged from the black hole. It appeared to be a warrior riding on a horse that had four front feet and two hind legs. The creature riding the horse looked human and one could have mistaken it for a human had it not been for the horns sticking out of its head.

The horse then stood on its hind legs as the creature riding the horse began to aim its mighty sword at the sky. Once it found the perfect angle, it lunged the sword with all of its strength and watched it as it flew up into the clouds above, causing the clouds to depart from one another as though something had just fallen through them. A strange light was surrounding the monster as it just looked at the monster before it, oblivious of what was going on. Before the monster even had a chance to blink, it felt a sharp pain arouse within it as the same sword that had been flung into the air came down and pierced right through the deranged monster.

Once that happened, the monster that appeared from the black hole disappeared along with the sword and the rain. Calvin's barrier disappeared as well. He managed to sit up, starting in awe at the monster, which was still too stunned to move, but unfortunately alive nonetheless.

"NO WAY! I thought for sure that would kill it!" a voice from behind Calvin shouted.

Calvin turned around to see, much to his relief, Hobbes.

"What do you mean 'I thought that would kill it'?" Calvin demanded.

That monster I summoned…Odin is its name…I thought for sure that would kill it! How strong IS this thing?"

"Wait a minute…YOU called that monster? HOW?"

Before Hobbes could answer, there was a vibration that knocked Calvin and Hobbes to the ground. The monster had made it back to its feet and was shaking violently. After a few seconds, its orange hair had fallen off and it revealed to be a purple monster and it was not smiling.

"WHAT DO WE DO NOW?" Calvin panicked.

"We fight it," Hobbes bravely replied as he charged for the monster.

"HOBBESS! COME BACK!" Calvin pleaded, but Hobbes wasn't listening. He was too focused on the monster.

Hobbes fired an ice spell at the monster as he dove through its legs. The spell hit, but did not appear to stun the monster too much. Hobbes then sliced at the monster with his Tiger Claw fists, damaging the monster more.

"A LITTLE HELP PLEASE!" Hobbes shouted to Calvin.

Calvin snapped out of his state of fear and began firing deathblow shots from his dart gun. These also stunned the monster, but it didn't look like it was doing as much damage as it was before.

"WHAT'S WITH THIS MONSTER?" Calvin shouted. "I CAN'T DO ANYTHING TO HURT IT!"

"ITS DEFENSE MUST HAVE GOTTEN STRONGER WHEN IT CHANGED!"

Before Hobbes could say anything else, the monster used both of its fists and hit Hobbes on the head with a double-axe handle slam, knocking Hobbes into the dream world.

"HOBBES!" Calvin shrieked.

At this point, the monster was about to step on Hobbes and finish him off, but a bright red light filled the room which distracted the monster. The light was coming from Calvin as he unleashed a limit break. Once again, the light engulfed him, lifting him in the air, casing him to change form. When he landed on the ground, he was wearing safari clothes and wielding a sword.

"Good day mate," Calvin spoke. "Safari Al, at yer service."

The monster became intrigued by the new form Calvin. It shifted its attention to him and charged.

"Now this 'ere bloat is a creature we call a "Lost Number". Ugly brute, ain't he? Now what I'm gonna do 'ere is I'm gonna fight this bloke with me sword. It won't know wot hit 'im! Watch carefully now!"

As the monster swung its heavy fists at Calvin, Calvin jumped into the air with ease and sliced the monster, which we have learned by now is the Lost Number, contacting with it all three times. He had cut it deep too.

"That got 'im," Calvin shouted enthusiastically. "But it didn't finish 'im. Looks like I'm gonna 'ave ta do it again 'cause 'ere it comes!"

Just like before, the Lost Number swung its fists at Calvin, but it could not keep up with his newfound speed. Calvin slid under the creature, slicing its legs.

"Look at 'im! He's raging in pain, he is! I guess he's learnin' the 'ard was that ya can't mess with Safari Al! But he's still standin'…his defense is tough, it is, folks. But play time's over. I'm gonna hafta call in the big guns, and by that, I mean my animal friends!"

Calvin leaped up on top of a lighting that was hanging from the ceiling where the Lost Number couldn't get him. He then cupped his hands over his mouth and made a whistling, flute sound.

Suddenly, the ground began to shake violently once more. This time, though, the Lost Number was knocked to its feet.

Hobbes awoke from the shaking and saw that the world around was vibrating. Soon, a rumble could be heard from the distance. Hobbes turned around to see that a heard of jungle animals was stampeding towards them. This herd consisted of all kinds of animals from lions to zebras to elephants to ostriches…and they were not slowing down for anyone. Hobbes closed his eyes and waited for the impact, but it didn't come. When he opened his eyes, he saw that the animals were paying no attention to him and just going around him and heading straight for the Lost Number.

The Lost Number was trying to fight off the animals as they approached it. It fought off the first wave successfully, but the next couple waves were too powerful for it. The lions were pouncing and tearing at the flesh, the giraffes were smashing it with their heads, the elephants were stomping on it after it had been taken down…every animal did something. Finally, the stampede was over and when the dust cleared, there was nothing left of the monster.

Hobbes was confused. He had no idea where the animals had come from and when he saw Calvin, he thought he was a total stranger at first because of the fact he had been knocked out.

"Who are you?" Hobbes asked, "and where's Calvin?"

"Calvin? Don't know any bloat named Calvin. But my name's Safari Al and my, what a fine specimen you are, little fella."

On this note, the red light surrounded Calvin once more as it changed him back to his normal self.

"Uh…what happened…where's the monster?" Calvin asked upon returning.

"WHAT? HOW DID YOU…"

"What are you shouting for, Hobbes? I'm right here."

"But…you…the monster…the animals…"

"What animals? What are you talking about? And where's the monster?"

"Dead…but you…"

"Dead? How? Ah, well, I guess it doesn't matter. As long as that ugly brute's gone forever."

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

"Hey, look!"

Calvin pointed to the safe. There was something glowing in it.

A/N: Sorry it took so long to update. School work's been getting to me and I've been working on other stories. Read and Review as always, please. Next chapter, Calvin and Hobbes meet…VINCENT and someone else.


	19. The Man In The Coffin

Chapter Nineteen: The Man in the Coffin

"What is it?" Hobbes questioned, examining the glowing object in the safe.

"I've got no idea," Calvin replied. "Why don't you pick it up and find out?"

"ME?" Hobbes replied in an outraged manner. "Why me?"

"Well, I'm the leader," Calvin explained proudly. "If something were to happen to me, why what would you do?"

"I'd be out of this mess, for starters," Hobbes replied. "That's just the beginning of my list. Want me to keep going?"

"Oh, shut up," Calvin demanded. "If you're going to be a scaredy-cat, then I'LL pick it up!"

Calvin then pushed Hobbes aside as he bent down to pick up the object, still grunting about Hobbes.

"I don't know what that flea-bucket's problem is…I mean, is it too much to ask to pick up a small, glowing object? For crying out loud, I just fought a dumb monster and I still have to do the grunt work…I mean…AH!"

Calvin jumped three feet back when he picked up the glowing object and right on top of Hobbes, holding onto him as if he were never going to let go.

"What's your problem?" Hobbes demanded as he tried to push Calvin off his face.

"I picked up the thing and something crawled up my arm!" Calvin shivered as he struggled to stay on top of Hobbes' head.

"What was it?" Hobbes asked, jumping on top of a nearby chair.

Before anyone could say anything else, the weak chair they were standing on collapsed under the weight of Calvin and Hobbes.

Hobbes brushed the debris off himself and looked at Calvin's arm to see a small spider crawling up it.

"You gave me a heart attack over a stupid spider?"

"Hey, with everything we've been through the past couple of days, it could have been anything…I was right to panic!" Calvin argued.

"Let's just get that stupid thing," Hobbes grunted as he made his way to the safe.

He examined the object on the ground closely before picking it up. He even sniffed at it just to make sure it wasn't anything that could be lethal.

"Well, what is it?" Calvin demanded from a safe distance.

"It's just a key," Hobbes assured, picking it up.

"A key to what, though?"

"Maybe this note says," Hobbes replied as he picked up a piece of paper that the key came with.

Hobbes read the letter out loud. It said:

To Whom It May Concern:

First of all, if you are reading this, I congratulate you on defeating the monster I locked up in this safe with the key. If you were able to defeat the monster, then you are without a doubt worthy of seeing what it is I have done with my close and personal friend. The key you have found in the safe is one of a kind, so do not lose it, for it is the only way to open the door in the basement of this mansion to find him. I cannot promise you that he will be alive, though. So if you find a rotting corpse in the basement instead of him, then that's just tough luck for you. In any case, you had fun, right?

Head of Shinra Science Department

Hojo

"Well…at least we know where this 'experiment' is," Calvin said optimistically. "We should check it out!"

"We?" Hobbes demanded. "By 'we', you mean just you while I wait here, right?"

"English mustn't be your first language," Calvin said sarcastically. "What do you think I mean by 'we'? I mean you AND me dummy! Now stop being a baby and let's see what it is that this Hojo guy has waiting in the basement of the mansion!"

"Why?" Hobbes demanded. "It's none of our business, is it?"

"We're going to figure out what's in that basement whether you want to or not!" Calvin shouted. "I am NOT going to go around saying I fought some homicidal psycho Shinra monster for nothing! Now let's go!"

Hobbes hesitated at first, but after thinking about it, he decided Calvin was right. After all, they had already defeated the monster. 'Might as well see the reward,' Hobbes thought to himself.

Calvin and Hobbes made their way down the Shinra Mansion steps to the basement of the building. The basement was dusty, covered with cobwebs, and had dirt for a floor.

"Man, I thought I would never hear myself say this, but this place needs to be cleaned," Calvin grunted as he swiped away a set of cobwebs that had covered his face.

"Hey, this must be the door in the letter," Hobbes said, pointing out a large, wooden door with a large keyhole by the knob.

"Well…here goes nothing," Calvin sighed as he put the key in the keyhole and turned the lock.

The door gave a loud, ugly, unlocking noise as Calvin turned the key. Also, when Hobbes pushed against the door, its hinges gave a loud creaking sound. When the door was fully open, Calvin and Hobbes found themselves looking in a room filled with coffins.

"This…is so gross…," Hobbes sputtered as he looked at the room with disgust.

"This is so COOL!" Calvin shouted as he excitedly looked around the room. "I can't believe that we get to see a dead person! Man, I'm glad we came down here!"

"Shh," Hobbes hushed. "You don't have to be so loud."

"Oh, what's wrong? Is the bid putty tat scared?"

"…_to awaken me from my nightmare…" _

"Oh, you're not going to have nightmares from this, are you?" Calvin teased. "The putty tat says he's gonna have nightmares. Ha!"

"I didn't say anything about having nightmares," Hobbes assured, sounding a little crept out.

"Yeah you did…didn't you just say…"

"…_to awaken me from my nightmare…" _

"Yeah, that."

"I…I didn't say that," Hobbes whispered.

"…_to awaken me from my nightmare…" _

"if…if you're not saying that…," Calvin whispered, "then…who…"

Suddenly, the lid on one of the coffins popped open. Calvin shrieked like a little girl as he jumped into Hobbes arms, who was also screaming, but not quite as feministic as Calvin.

"ZOMBIE! ZOMBIE!" Calvin shrieked. "IT'S GONNA EAT US!"

As Calvin shouted this, a man sat up from the coffin. He had long, black, greasy hair and wore a lot of red. He also had a claw where one of his hands should have been. He stretched as he gazed upon the petrified boy and tiger with hair standing on end.

"_Who are you?_" the man questioned.

"YOU'RE RIGHT!" Hobbes shouted. "IT IS A ZOMBIE!"

"_Zombie? I am no zombie,_" the man assured. "_To be a zombie, I would have to have died first…and I am very much alive…though I cannot say very well. In fact, I might as well have died._"

"Wait a second…you're that guy, aren't you?" Hobbes asked, throwing Calvin to the ground as he examined the man closer.

"_What are you talking about? What do you mean 'that guy'? Furthermore, what are you two doing here? This is no place for the likes of you." _

"Believe us, pal, we don't want to be here any more than you want us here," Calvin assured. "In fact, I don't' know how we got into this mess. I mean, we were only in this mansion searching for clues about where to find some guy named Sephiroth. Then…"

"_Sephiroth!_ _You know Sephiroth?_"

"Well, we don't KNOW him know him, but we're friends with someone who has a score to settle with him," Hobbes explained.

"…_close enough," _the man replied as he jumped out of his coffin._ "Let's hear the story." _

Calvin and Hobbes then retold the story that Cloud had told them before they arrived at Neibelheim. From the incident five years ago to the rivalry Cloud had developed with Sephiroth. Despite the fact that Calvin and Hobbes argued over whether the other's information was accurate or not, the man from the coffin seemed to understand.

"…and that's pretty much all we know," Hobbes finally said.

"…_interesting," _was all the man could say.

"So, what's your story, buddy?"

The red-caped man was silent for some time before finally saying, _"I cannot speak now." _

"WHY NOT!" Calvin demanded. "AFTER GOING THROUGH ALL THE TROUBLE TO REMEMBER CLOUD'S STORY, THE LEAST YOU COULD DO IS TELL US YOURS?"

"_After hearing your story, my sin seems even worse than it was before. Now even more nightmares shall come to me…please leave…I wish to be left alone." _

"TELL US…WHAT'S THE DEAL WITH YOU AND SEPHIROTH? WHAT'S YOUR HEAT WITH THE GUY?"

However, the man did not seem to be listening. Instead, he just picked up the hood of his coffin, climbed back into the coffin he was found in, and put the top back on over him.

"Sheesh…what's his problem?" Calvin grunted.

"I don't know," Hobbes said. "…nightmares…I wonder what he meant by that?"

"I don't know…let's get out of here. The stench is starting to get to me," Calvin whined.

"Man…all that work and suspense just for some creep who lays in a coffin complaining about nightmares," Calvin grumbled as they exited the room.

"You complain about monsters under your bed, Calvin."

"THAT'S SOEMTHING TO COMPLAIN ABOUT! THOSE THINGS WOULD EAT US ALIVE IF THEY EVER GOT THE CHANCE TO! WHY…"

"Shh!" Hobbes suddenly hushed. "Did you just hear something?"

Neither Calvin nor Hobbes made any movements. They listened carefully for anything to break the deadly silence.

"Oh, that guy talking about nightmares must have gotten to you. Don't pay any bother to him…he's just some…"

Calvin never got to finish the sentence as suddenly they heard noises coming down the hallway. It sounded like stuff was being thrown to the ground madly.


	20. Note to readers

NOTE TO READERS:

THE CHAPTER WITH VINCENT VALENTINE IS NOW POSTED…WHY IT DIDN'T UPDATE, I DON'T KNOW. ANYWAYS, READ AND ENJOY AND KEEP AN EYE OPEN FOR THE NEXT CHAPTER: CALVIN AND HOBBES MEET…SEPHIROTH!


	21. Calvin and Hobbes meet Sephiroth

Chapter Nineteen: The Man in the Black Cape

Calvin and Hobbes just stared at each other before anyone decided to move towards the sounds. Pretty soon, they could hear someone's voice. Whoever it was, this person was laughing madly one minute, then shouting furiously the next.

"Wait a minute," Hobbes suddenly shivered. "Whatever's in that room doesn't sound safe to be around. We should get out of here."

"It's just coming from the other side of this door. I just want to take a peek…what could happen?"

"Calvin…no…"

But before Hobbes could say anything else, Calvin was nudging the door open ever so slowly until he had enough room to fit his head through it.

"I don't see anyone," Calvin whispered, looking around.

"Good…let's get out of here now please," Hobbes pleaded.

"Come on…we've beaten a bunch of monsters we should be able to take on whoever's in this room. If things get out of hand, we'll just clean his clock, okay?"

"No, it's not okay," Hobbes growled. "What would be okay is if we could get out of here right this minute!"

"Well, I'm going in to check it out. You want to stay out here all by yourself, you can do that. But if a monster sneaks up from behind you and sucks your brains out, don't expect me to come to your rescue."

Hobbes snarled at this statement and muttered under his breath as he followed Calvin into the room. The room turned out to be a massive library in which there were mountains of books piled up on tables, chairs, and even on the floor.

"Whoever is in here last sure is doing a lot of research about something," Hobbes said.

"Whoever is in here last obviously had no life," Calvin laughed. "I mean, who spends their spare time studying and researching? That's what school is for!"

"Who do you think is in here?"

"I don't know. What I'm curious about is what this person is reading about," Calvin replied as he picked up a book on the ground.

"What does it say?" Hobbes asked, looking over his shoulders.

"If you'll get your hairy head out of the light, I'll tell you," Calvin grunted.

After Hobbes moved his head, Calvin read the text out loud. It read:

Jenova: the mystical ancient who landed on this planet numerous years ago, believed to be one of the last surviving Cetra. When Shinra found the corpse of Jenova, they kept it alive in the Neibelheim Reactor, using its genetic cells and the resource of mako, life blood of this planet, to create ultimate warriors for Shinra.

"Who the heck would want to read about a sick idea like this?" Calvin demanded in disgust.

"Wait a minute," Hobbes replied in shock and anxiety. "Think about it: who have we heard of who is obsessed with these experiments and Jenova?"

Calvin thought about it for a minute and when he was done, he immediately picked up another book. Sure enough, it was another report on the Jenova Project. So were the rest Calvin and Hobbes looked through.

"Hobbes…"Calvin barely whispered in fear, "…do you suppose that the person in this library…the library we're standing in right now…is…Sephiroth?"

"I told you we shouldn't have come in here!" Hobbes shouted in anger.

"SHH!" Calvin hushed immediately. "If he is in here and he hears us…"

"…**you would be in an enormous amount of trouble, wouldn't you?"  
**

"You can say that again Hobbes," Calvin replied.

"I can say what again?"

"What you just said."

"I didn't say anything."

"If you didn't…then who did?"

Before Hobbes could respond, Calvin saw his orange coat of fur turn white with fear as Hobbes looked behind Calvin. Calvin hesitated as he turned around. What he saw made him turn white as well. Standing right behind him was a man in a black cape and long, silver hair. He also wielded a massive sword that measured more than two Hobbes' standing on one another's shoulders. But the scariest features of this man were his pure, blue eyes that made him look so evil.

Calvin and Hobbes were so afraid that they didn't even have the nerve to shout at the sight of Sephiroth as he looked down upon them with an evil grin on his face.

"**I suppose the two of you were talking about me, weren't you?" **

Neither Calvin nor Hobbes replied.

"**You will do well to respond to my questions if you value your lives," **he said as he drew his sword.

At this point, Calvin and Hobbes were slowly backing up to the exit, trying frantically to find the handle.

"**WHAT ARE YOU TWO INSIGNIFICANT FOOLS DOING DOWN HERE?" **Sephiroth demanded as he swung his sword through the air.

By this point, Calvin and Hobbes were screaming at the top of their lungs. It was the only thing their bodies would allow them to do. Other than their vocal cords, they were paralyzed with fear.

"**IF YOU WISH TO LEAVE THIS MANSION ALIVE, ANSWER ME NOW!"  
**

"Please don't kill us!" Calvin pleaded. "We were just looking for something about why this town is still standing and we thought the mansion would e a good place to look around and we know that the library has a lot of information in it and I didn't know you were in here cause if I had known, I wouldn't have come in here in the first place!" Calvin was so nervous that he was speaking in run-on sentences and extremely fast.

"**What do YOU two know about that? ANSWER!" **

"Our friend told us about an incident that happened years ago in this place!" Hobbes replied. "He told us about how you were a product of Jenova and…"

"**DON'T EVER CALL ME A PRODUCT AGAIN!" **Sephiroth shouted as he swung his sword through a nearby table, slicing it in half.

"Sorry! Please don't kill me!" Hobbes pleaded. "That's what Cloud said and…"

"**Cloud?" **

"Yeah…Cloud Strife."

"**So…he is here then?" **

"…yes…"

"**Interesting…so he has decided to hunt me down and confront me about what happened five years ago." **

"Basically."

"**Well…I think I'll pay him a little visit." **

With that note, Sephiroth began to levitate as he flew towards Calvin and Hobbes. Unaware that Sephiroth was heading towards the exit and not at them, Calvin panicked and involuntarily fired three shots at Sephiroth. Though the darts made contact, they did not even faze Sephiroth. In fact, Sephiroth seemed very irritated at this as he landed in front of the two.

"**So…you two think you can take on the mighty Sephiroth, do you?" **

"NO!" Calvin pleaded. "I THOUGHT YOU WERE GOING TO KILL ME! THAT'S WHY I FIRED AT YOU! IT WAS IN SELF DEFENSE! PLEASE DON'T KILL US!"

"**Self defense, huh? Well, you fired at me first…therefore, I guess it's my turn to retaliate…and I'm going to in my own special way…against Cloud and all his friends…including you!" **

On that note, Sephiroth blasted off through the library entrance and flew up the stairs of the mansion.

"I don't like the sounds of that," Calvin shivered. "Do you think he's going to try to set fire to the town again?"

"If he does, it's your fault!" Hobbes criticized. "Like usual, if we had minded our own businesses, we wouldn't be in this predicament!"

"This isn't the time to be sarcastic!" Calvin shouted. "We need to go warn Cloud and the others right now!"

Without any time to spare, Calvin and Hobbes raced back upstairs to the mansion and ran as fast as they could outdoors. When they got to the door, what Calvin and Hobbes saw was indeed a rare sight. Right in the middle of the town was a man floating in mid air, scoping the town.

"**Cloud…Come out immediately, I know you're here!" **Sephiroth demanded, grasping his sword. **"You wish to settle the score with me? Come on, then! Let's do this right here and now!" **

Within a few minutes, Cloud and the others ran into the square upon hearing this voice. Cloud appeared to be the most shocked out of the entire group. In fact, one could go as far as to say Cloud was the most hesitant of the group.

"**Well…it's been a long time, Cloud**," Sephiroth laughed. "**But why does it appear that you're not happy to see me**."

"Shut yer trap!" Barret shouted as he took aim with his gun arm.

"So…this is the amazing Sephiroth," Cait Sith whispered, intrigued by his presence. "The famous ex-SOLDER who went mad."

"**SOLDER…yes, I remember being part of that worthless group of ingrates…can't recall why I joined, though. Now that I look back on it, it was nothing but a waste of my time." **

"What are you doing here?" Tifa demanded. "After what you did to this town, you have no right to be here!"

"**Well, if you must know, I've been doing a little research…about my mother." **

"You mean that damn headless spook?" Barret asked.

"**Don't refer to mother like that if you value your life!" **Sephiroth demanded.

"You mean Jenova?" Aeris asked seeming interested as to what Sephiroth had to say.

"**My, you ARE a clever little girl," **Sephiroth snickered. "**Yes…and I have discovered something simply amazing…my mother's time to reclaim the planet as her own is finally upon us!" **

"What are you talking about!" Cloud demanded.

"**It's simple…Jenova's Reunion: when mother calls forth her children to come back to her! On that day, mother will wipe the useless creatures on this planet and take back what is rightfully hers! And I will be at her right side, eliminating all who are against her and to make the people of today pay for the sins of their forefathers!" **

"This guy's a lunatic!" Hobbes cried out.

"I don't have four fathers…just one father. But I can honestly say I don't know him that well," Calvin declared.

"You mean…other than you and Jenova, everyone on this planet is going to die at your hands?" Red XIII questioned in disgust.

"I WON'T LET YOU DO IT, SEPHIROTH!" Cloud shouted as he drew his sword.

"**So…it's a fight you want, is it?"** Sephiroth grinned. "**Well then, this should be fun." **

Upon those words, Sephiroth held his hand out and waved it a little. As he did this, the ground began to come alive. Creatures were popping out all around town, though they weren't like any other creatures no one in the group had ever seen before…save Cloud.

"What are they?" Aeris shrieked as one tried to grab her leg.

"They look just like the people that were in the Neibelheim mako reactorI saw that day when I went with Sephiroth five years ago!" Cloud replied in horror.

"**Correct," **Sephiroth replied. **"These poor souls, whom I have called brothers for some time now, were buried underground for the past five years since the Shinra confiscated the ruins of the town and the reactor five years ago. However, the Shinra were unaware that they have been alive for all these years. When I discovered they were still alive, I whispered to them that I would free them one day! They whispered back that when I freed them, they would forever serve me and do as I told them." **

"Blackmail, huh? Why don't you come down here and fight us yerself?" Barret demanded.

"**I might…if you can defeat all of my brothers**," Sephiroth laughed.

"No way!" Tifa shrieked. "There has to be at least thirty of them!"

"All extremely powerful," Cait Sith added. "I just scanned these guys…level of thirty-three! And we're only at twenty-seven!"

"**I would stop talking and start fighting if I were you!" **Sephiroth laughed as the mako-infected humans began to advance on the group.

Meanwhile, Calvin and Hobbes were watching from a distance, shocked at what was taking place.

"Oh, man…this is our fault!" Calvin said in disbelief.

"OUR fault? You're the one who opened the door!" Hobbes gritted.

"In any case, we have to do something now!"

"You can drop the 'we' stuff out!" Hobbes said. "You got them into this mess! Now you have to get them out of it!"

"But I need your help!" Calvin pleaded.

"Tough!" Hobbes said as he turned the other way.

"OKAY, FINE!" Calvin shouted in anger. "I WILL! WHO NEEDS YOUR HELP ANYWAYS! I'LL TAKE CARE OF THE WHOLE SITUATION! NOT ONLY WILL I KILL THOSE MONSTERS, BUT I'LL KILL SEPHIROTH, TOO!"

As Calvin said this, he aimed his dart gun right at Sephiroth and prepared to fire shots that were juiced up by the deathblow materia.

"WAIT, CALVIN! DON'T DO THAT!" Hobbes shrieked.

But it was too late. As Hobbes went to grab the gun, Calvin fired three shots at Sephiroth. All shots hit the intended target, but it didn't faze Sephiroth at all. In fact, the only thing it did was make him angrier. Calvin and Hobbes could tell because Sephiroth slowly turned towards them with the evilest and angriest look on his face that anyone could imagine.

"**I've had enough of you two!" **he shouted. "**Brothers! Turn your attention away from Cloud and his friends! Instead, bring me the heads of the child and the tiger!" **


	22. The Battle in Neibelheim

Chapter Twenty-two: The Neibelheim Battle

"WHAT? OUR HEADS?" Calvin shrieked.

"Is that what he said?" Hobbes asked. "I didn't hear him very well when he said it."

The mako monsters were charging towards the entrance of the Shinra Mansion, where Calvin and Hobbes were standing.

"RUN!" Calvin shouted as he dragged Hobbes into the mansion and slammed the door shut.

"What are we going to do?" Hobbes panicked. "If they get in, we're dead!

"Quick! We've got to block the door with whatever we can move!"

Meanwhile, Cloud and the rest of the party watched on in terror as the monsters attacked the door to the mansion.

"Sephiroth! Leave them alone!" Cloud demanded, drawing his massive weapon. "I'm the one you want! Not them!"

"**On contrary,"** Sephiroth grinned. **"anyone who is a human is an enemy to Sephiroth. But even more so, anyone who is a friend to you, Cloud, is despised by Sephiroth and are the first victims on his list!" **

"You monster!" Cloud gritted. "They're children! They don't know any better!"

"**Then they're going to have to learn the hard way, aren't they?" **

Cloud didn't wait for something to happen anymore. He charged towards the mansion, sword readied for battle. However, at the snap of his finger, Sephiroth summoned more mako-infected creatures from the earth to block the path between Cloud and the mansion. Cloud swung his sword and brought down one of the creatures. But the instant he had, another struck Cloud and brought him down to one knee immediately.

"C'mon!" Barret shouted. "Cloud needs our help!" With those words, Barret and the rest of the gang charged towards the monsters and the battle for Neibelheim was under way.

"WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO?" Calvin shrieked. "THOSE THINGS ARE GOING TO KILL US IF WE DON'T ACT FAST!"

"CALM DOWN!" Hobbes shouted. "LET'S PUT WHATEVER'S NOT BOLTED DOWN IN FRONT OF THE DOOR! HELP ME WITH THIS TABLE!"

Meanwhile, outdoors, Red XIII and Cait Sith were working as a team against a heard of mako-infected humans. Tifa and Cloud had joined forces and were using a combination of martial arts and swordsmanship to attack the monsters that were advancing towards the mansion. While Barret and Aeris fought off the monsters that were in the square of the town, protecting any innocent bystanders. Sephiroth, surprisingly, just stood on top of a building and watched the action as if he were watching an act at a carnival.

"CLOUD! ARE YOU SURE THESE THE THINGS YOU SAW IN THOSE CONTAINERS IN THE REACTOR FIVE YEARS AGO?" Tifa asked as she brought her fists down on a monster.

"I'D NEVER FORGET THESE THINGS EVEN IF I TRIED! THESE ARE THE SAME CREATURES ALL RIGHT! I NEVER IMAGINED THEY WOULD BE SO STRONG!" Cloud replied as he sliced another monster with his gigantic sword.

Down in the square, Aeris was healing and talking to a group of people who were shaking vigorously at the sight of the newly spawned monsters.

"Please…get inside," Aeris asked some people Barret had just saved. "On my life, I promise that these creatures shall not harm you!"

"YOU'VE GOT MY WORD ON THAT TOO!" Barret shouted over the sound of his gunfire. "NOW GET INSIDE!"

The people obeyed and ran into the nearest building. When Aeris turned around, a monster was pouncing towards her. Using her lightning-speed reflexes, Aeris stopped the creature from biting her with her staff and lunged the monster to the ground, bashing it's skull when she had it pinned down.

Elsewhere, Cait Sith and Red XIII were having their own little share of fighting with Sephiroth's so-called brothers.

"Let's see how you fellas react when you're half the size you are now," Cait Sith snickered as he focused a spell on a heard of the monsters. "MINI!"

With that word, a small cloud of dust surrounded the monsters and began to shrink them down to a quarter of the size they were originally.

"Nicely done!" Red XIII complimented. "Now, allow me to attack them with my own magic! FIRE 2!"

In an instant, the monsters were surrounded by flames and burned up to nothing but ashes. But the second those ones died, more of them spawned from the ground and jumped Red XIII and Cait Sith.

Back in the mansion, Calvin and Hobbes had blocked the front door with anything they could find. From chairs to tables to old dressers, it was impossible for a normal human being to enter the mansion.

"HA! I'd like to see those stupid monsters break into this mansion now!" Calvin said arrogantly.

But as soon as Calvin said this, the door began to shake violently as the monsters outside were banging against it. Despite the fact that the door was blocked by so many objects, the mako-infected humans were still breaking through slowly, but surely.

"All that stuff blocking the door isn't keeping them out!" Hobbes said in shock. "Now what are we going to do?"

"Quick! Let's hide upstairs!" Calvin shouted as he bolted up the stairs with Hobbes right behind.

They found a room that they had not yet explored. Deciding there was no time to waste, they went into the room, closed the door, and locked it.

"I just hope they don't find us in here," Calvin whimpered.

"Hey, look!" Hobbes said in surprise as he pointed behind Calvin.

Calvin turned around and much to his liking, there was a Winchester Rifle along with a massive amount of gun powder and bullets.

"JUST HOW MANY OF THESE BROTHERS ARE UNDER THE GROUND?" Barret shouted in frustration as he jumped out of the way of a monster emerging beneath his feet.

"I'm not sure," Aeris replied more calmly as she fired an Ice 2 spell on the monsters advancing towards the inn.

"WELL, IF THIS KEEPS UP ANY LONGER, WE'RE GONNA BE LIKE THESE GUYS WERE BEFORE SEPHIROTH SUMMONED THEM: UNDER THE GROUND!"

A monster was trying to bite Barret, but a certain force field was preventing it from doing so. Soon, the air around them began to feel extremely hot and the ground broke away as a monster unlike the ones summoned by Sephiroth appeared. It had green skin and it was breathing fire as it gave a loud roar of anger.

"IFRIT!" Aeris commanded, "ATTACK THESE MONSTERS WITH THE RAGE AND FIRE OF HELL! HELLFIRE!"

Ifrit set its sights upon the creatures and was focusing all its energy to destroy them all. But as it was preparing to attack, Sephiroth jumped off the house he was standing on, pulled out his massive sword, and sliced Ifrit with it, causing the creature to shriek in horrible pain and disperse in a flame.

"**Now, now…playing dirty, are we? Aeris, you're the last person I expected to pull a stunt like that. As an Ancient, you should look for the proudest way to win a battle, don't you think?" **Sephiroth snickered as he went back to his lookout spot.

The instant he returned there, though, the air became unbearably cold for Sephiroth and the monsters, but not for Cloud and the rest of the party as they were surrounded by another force field. Sephiroth took note of Cait Sith, who was focusing as hard as Aeris was earlier.

"Goddess of Ice, freeze thy for into oblivion…COME FORTH SHIVA!"

As he shouted this, a light descended from the sky as a creature that looked like a woman made of ice came down from the light: Shiva.

Shiva began to focus on an attack as she raised her hand up, conjuring ice from the atmosphere, but like Ifrit before her, she felt the wrath of Sephiroth as he sliced her in half as well, causing her to disappear into a cloud of frost.

"DAMN! SEPHIROTH AIN'T GONNA LET US USE OUR SOMMON MATERIA!" Barret shouted in frustration.

"Great," Cloud sighed, "This could make things a little more interesting."

Back inside the mansion, Calvin and Hobbes were preparing the rifle to be used.

"Okay, I've got the powder," Hobbes said, carrying over a barrel. "We load the gun with powder right here in this spot, and then we've got to get the bullets."

"Got it. You load the gun and I'll look for the bullets."

Calvin immediately ran to the shelf and searched frantically for the box of bullets. But the shelf was so dusty and there were so many other small boxes on them, it was going to take a while to find the right box. Deciding not to waste any more time staring at the shelf, Calvin began to throw boxes left and right.

As Calvin searched and Hobbes loaded the gunpowder, noises that sounded like snarling began to enter the mansion.

"HURRY UP!" Hobbes shouted. "IT SOUNDS LIKE THOSE THINGS ARE ALMOST THROUGH THE DOOR!"

"I CAN'T SEE WHICH BOX HAS THE BULLETS WITH ALL THIS DUST! AHA! HERE THEY ARE!"

Calvin held up a box that said "bullets" on the front of it. He opened the box to reveal hundreds of bullets, waiting to be used.

"DID YOU FIND THEM?" Hobbes asked impatiently.

"I SURE DID! HERE, CATCH!"

"DON'T THROW THEM!" Hobbes shouted quickly.

But Hobbes was too late as he saw the box of bullets fly over his head, spilling all the bullets onto the ground. The bullets rolled around until they made their way into a hole in the floor.

Hobbes glared at Calvin with the ugliest glare a tiger could give to a boy, which is far scarier than a human can ever glare.

"…oops…" was all Calvin managed to whisper.

Outside, Red XIII and Cait Sith were fighting ten monsters at once, barely managing to keep on their feet.

"This is not good!" Cait Sith yelled as he brought his Megaphone down upon one of the monsters. "I think these things may be out of our league!"

"No!" Red XIII shouted. "We can't give up! I won't let the blood that runs through my veins be put to shame! We've got to fight them back!"

With those words, Red XIII began to glow crimson red.

"STARDUST RAIN!" He shouted and the sky became dark with stardust pouring down upon the creatures, delivering massive damage to the monsters.

"Now, Cait Sith, use your magic to finish them off!" Red XIII ordered.

However, Cait Sith was one step ahead of him. He had already conjured a lightning spell that eliminated all the monsters. But much like before, more monsters jumped out of the ground and attacked Red XIII and Cait Sith.

Meanwhile, Tifa was struggling with three monsters. One managed to bite her arm while the other two had her pinned to the ground.

Cloud turned around and immediately ran to her aid. All it took was one swift swing of his sword and all three creatures were dead.

Following the death of the creatures, Cloud cast a Cure 2 spell on Tifa rapidly, knowing that there would soon be more monsters ready to attack.

Back in the mansion, Hobbes and Calvin were arguing ferociously.

:"THANKS A LOT, CALVIN! THIS GUN'S USELESS NOW!" Hobbes shouted. "YOU LOST ALL THE BULLETS!"

"**I** LOST THE BULLETS? YOU'RE THE ONE THAT DIDN'T CATCH THEM!"

"YOT SHOULD HAVE KNOWN NOT TO THROWN THE BULLETS! YOU CAN'T THROW WORTH BEANS! NOW WE HAVE NO BULLETS!"

Before Calvin could respond, there was ferocious scratching at the door. The monsters had made their way into the mansion and had heard Calvin and Hobbes arguing.

"OH NO! NOW WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO?" Calvin panicked.

Hobbes tried to think of a plan as quickly as possible. He looked at the barrel of gunpowder he was holding. He turned around and noticed that there were more barrels of gunpowder behind them.

"I've got an idea! Hobbes proclaimed as if a light had been turned on in his head. "Quick, let's get those barrels of gunpowder!"

Outside, Cloud had just used Meteorain to wipe out the monsters that had just popped out in front of the mansion. He swung his sword furiously, trying to get to the doors of the mansion to save Calvin and Hobbes.

"Tifa! See if you can't distract these things!" Cloud shouted. "Lure them over to the others and then kill them!"

"You've got it!" Tifa shouted. She then jumped in front of the monsters that were behind Cloud and grabbed their attention by punching one of them in the face. Enraged with the desire for revenge, the monsters began to run after her. Tifa maneuvered them away from the mansion and towards the square, where the others were fighting.

Barret saw the oncoming stampede of monsters and ordered that Red XIII, Cait Sith, and Aeris get behind him. HE told Tifa to do the same thing when she entered the square. Once they were all behind him, he set his gun arm to Machine Gun Mode and began to fire rapidly at the creatures, killing them one at a time.

Cloud was still trying to get into the mansion, but as he was about to enter the door, a man in a black cape appeared before him, glaring at Cloud.

"**The only way you're ever going to enter this mansion again is through me," **Sephiroth declared.

Cloud tried to slash at Sephiroth, but Sephiroth moved out of the way easily and knocked Cloud off his feet, sending him flying into a nearby statue.

"**You've grown weaker," **Sephiroth laughed as Cloud just glared at him.

Back in the mansion, Calvin and Hobbes had put the gunpowder into one big pile in the back of the room.

"All right, Calvin, here's the plan: When those monsters break through, use a fire spell and light this trail of gunpowder. This will give us enough time to block the door, lock the monsters inside, and escape the mansion. Got it?

"Okay. Got it."

By now, the door was almost broken off its hinges. Calvin began to conjure a fire spell, focusing all his thoughts on the fire sparking the gunpowder.

"FIRE!" Calvin shouted just as the monsters broke through the door. The spell hit the intended target and the fuse was rapidly burning towards the gun powder.

"Okay! RUN!" Hobbes shouted.

Immediately, Calvin and Hobbes darted towards the monsters and began to frantically make their way past through them. However, they weren't going nearly fast enough. The monsters were biting and scratching at them, intending to kill them. Calvin and Hobbes were fighting as hard as they could to get out of the room, but by now, the fuse was only feet from the gunpowder.

"WE'RE NOT GOING TO MAKE IT!" Calvin shouted hysterically.

'WE'RE GOING TO MAKE IT!" Hobbes assured as he slashed one of the monsters with his Tiger Claws.

Calvin fired dart shots juiced by the deathblow materia he had equipped as fast as he could, trying to get out of the room.

"WE'RE GOING TO MAKE IT!" Hobbes shouted again confidently, but worriedly at the same time, hitting a monster with an ice spell.

But no matter how hard Calvin and Hobbes fought, the monsters had them pinned in the same spot they were when they should have already been outside. Calvin and Hobbes looked at the gunpowder to see it was now only inched from the barrels.

"HOBBES! THE GUNPOWDER!"

"I SEE IT! I SEE IT!"

"WE'RE DOOMED!"

"I KNOW!'

Calvin and Hobbes watched the fire go into one of the barrels just before they shut their eyes.

Suddenly, everything seemed to happen at once. There was an enormous explosion as the right half of the Neibelheim mansion was engulfed with flames, raining fire and debris down upon Cloud, Sephiroth, and the whole town of Neibelheim.

"What the hell just happened?" Barret demanded as he looked on in awe at the mansion.

"Wait! Weren't Calvin and Hobbes were in the mansion?" Red XIII asked.

At that moment, all faces went from shocked to scared.

"Yes! They were!" Tifa exclaimed.

"…Calvin…Hobbes…no…" Aeris whispered.

"NO!" Cloud cried out as he watched the mansion be consumed by the raging fire. Cloud fell to his knees and was pounding the ground in anger and grief.

Sephiroth, whom had levitated away from the mansion momentarily to escape the explosion, had now landed in front of Cloud, snickering menacingly.

"**Well," **He said as he glanced at the burning building, **"two down"**.


	23. The Man Dressed in Red

Chapter Twenty-Three: The Man Dressed in Red

"YOU MONSTER! THEY WERE ONLY CHILDREN!" Tifa screamed with anger.

"**Please, save me the tears,"** Sephiroth laughed. **"If it's any consolation, all of you fools will be joining them really soon,**"

"Not if we have anything to do with it!" Barret shouted, aiming his gun arm at Sephiroth.

"**Please, do you honestly believe that the six of you can defeat me?" **

Before anyone got a chance to answer, the air was filled with the sound of shotgun fire. Following the barrage of gunfire was the sound of screaming from Sephiroth. He was clamping his arm in pain.

"Nice shots, Barret!" Cait Sith applauded.

"I didn't fire any shots," Barret replied, confused.

"Then who did?" Red XIII questioned.

Before that question could be answered, the air was filled with the sound of screaming. It started in faint, but grew louder with each passing second. Suddenly, the screaming was replaced with a thud as Sephiroth was knocked to the ground.

"What the hell just happened?" Barret demanded, shocked by what had just taken place. "What were those two things that knocked Sephiroth to the ground?"

"Forget that," Tifa said. "Who fired those shots at Sephiroth?"

"Look!" Aeris shouted, pointing towards the burning mansion.

Aeris had spotted a man dressed in red with long, black, greasy hair, holding a pistol that had been aimed and fired at Sephiroth.

"_I don't know what business Sephiroth has with the likes of you people, but it would be wise if you didn't fight him right now," _the man said.

"Who…who are you?" Aeris whispered, amazed at this man's strength.

"_It has been many years since anyone has called me by a name," _the man said in a lonely tone. "_But I do remember people calling me by…Vincent Valentine"_

"Vincent…not that we aren't grateful for your help, but why would you open fire on Sephiroth? His battle is with us, not you," Aeris questioned.

"_This battle is as much mine as it is yours," _Vincent assured her. _"This man intends to destroy the town I rest in…I cannot allow that if I an to rest in peace."_

At that moment, Sephiroth flew into the air, still clenching the arm that Vincent had shot. His evil, blue eyes were glaring at Vincent with pure hatred.

"**I don't know who you are, but I don't care! I am going to kill you!" **

"_You intend to fight me with one arm wounded?" _

"**Don't be so hasty, my half-dead friend," **Sephiroth chuckled. **"I'll admit, you've got strength beyond what these fools have. In fact, I'm afraid that I'm going to have to retreat for now. But don't you worry, when I've regained my health, I'm going to kill you." **Sephiroth then turned to Cloud and the others. **"As for you, don't think this is the last you've seen of me, because I will have my revenge on all of you…especially you, Cloud!" **

Still clenching his arm, Sephiroth flew up into the sky and out of sight within a matter of seconds.

"GOOD RIDDANCE, YA BASTARD! Barret hollered after Sephiroth. "NEXT TIME, WE'LL BE READY FER YA!"

"Barret, don't provoke him!" Tifa exclaimed, putting her hand over Barrett's mouth.

"_Are the lot of you all right?" _Vincent asked as he approached them.

"Yeah…thanks to you," Aeris said with a small blush.

Vincent looked at Aeris with a small puzzled look as she blushed. Not thinking anything of it, he observed the rest of them: Cait Sith, Barret, Tifa, Red XIII, and…

"…_you…you're Cloud, right?" _

"…yeah…how did you know my name?"

"_You fit the description that the two in the mansion gave to me._"

"Two in the mansion?" Red XIII asked. "You mean Calvin and Hobbes?"

"_The boy and tiger? Yes. Are they out here?" _

"…no…" Tifa whispered. "…they died in the explosion."

"_Impossible! I threw them out through the roof before the explosion!" _

"Say what!" Barret demanded. "You mean to tell me that they're alive?"

It was at that moment that there were small groans heard from the area that Sephiroth had been knocked to the ground. They rushed over to see…

"CALVIN! HOBBES!"

"…next time…I'd prefer to be escorted to the door…" Calvin groaned.

"…next time…I won't have lunch before doing something like that…" Hobbes moaned.

Aeris ran to Calvin and Hobbes and hugged both of them, grateful they were alive. The others followed her example and gathered around the boy and tiger.

"OW! Not so hard!" Hobbes grunted in pain.

"EW! Not the girls!" Calvin grunted in disgust.

"But…I don't' get it," Red XIII said. "How did you survive the explosion?"

"_I helped them_," Vincent replied.

"Yeah…now I remember," Hobbes said.

"_WE'RE DOOMED, HOBBES!" _

"_I KNOW!" _

_Calvin and Hobbes were desperately trying to make their way past the monsters before the fire reached the stacks of gunpowder, but the monsters would not let them through. _

_Suddenly, Calvin and Hobbes felt somebody from the other side grab their arms and pulled them through the herd of monsters. They looked up to see the man from the coffin downstairs, Vincent, shut the door behind the monsters and locking them in the room. _

"_Hurry…there is no time to waste," he said. _

"_What are you going to do?" Hobbes asked. _

"_Don't worry, I'll see to it you get out alive. Just prepare yourselves to fly." _

"_What do you mean by…" _

"_FLY!" Vincent shouted as he lunged Calvin and Hobbes towards the sky. Calvin and Hobbes both saw the man disappear into his cape in a vampire-like manner and flee the building just before they broke through the roof. They made it through just as the gunpowder had ignited. _

"_OH MY GOSH!" Calvin laughed. "WE WERE ALMOST KILLED! THAT ZOMBIE SAVED US!" _

"_I wouldn't celebrate just yet," Hobbes replied. _

"_Why?" _

"_How are we going to get down?" _

_It was as Hobbes said this that Calvin and Hobbes began to feel the effects of gravity as it pulled them rapidly towards the ground in a freefall manner. _

"_WE'RE GONNA DIE!" Calvin and Hobbes shouted together, hanging on to one another. _

_They both looked down just in time to see that they were going to land on Sephiroth. _

"…and that's the last thing we remember," Hobbes explained.

"…so Vincent saved ya, eh? Well, Vincent, guess we owe ya a favor fer saving the kids…not to mention us" Barret said.

"Barret has a point," Tifa agreed. "If you hadn't thrown Calvin and Hobbes through the roof, not only would they have died in the explosion, but Sephiroth might have killed us all as well."

"Hey! Don't I get any credit?" Calvin demanded. "After all, we're the ones who landed on Sephiroth! We had a role in it, too! Plus, we're the ones who found Vincent in the coffin in the basement of that mansion!"

"Shut up, kid," Barret muttered.

"Is there anyway we can repay you for your troubles?" Cloud asked.

"_Tell me…you are going after Sephiroth, right?" _

"That's the plan," Cloud assured.

"_Then answer me this: Are you going to be meeting a man named Hojo during your searches?" _

"More than likely," Aeris whispered in a depressed tone.

Vincent remained silent for a minute in deep thought.

"_Lucrecia…" _he finally whispered.

"Lucrecia? Who's Lucrecia?" Calvin asked.

"_All right," _Vincent continued, ignoring Calvin's question. _"If you want to repay me, allow me to accompany you in your search for Sephiroth." _

"Are you nuts?" Calvin asked in shock. "You can get anything you want from these guys and you ask to join us in our search for a psycho maniac?! What about money?! Riches?! Cars!! BABES!!!"

"That's enough out of you!" Tifa snapped, smacking Calvin across the back of his head.

"_Believe me," _Vincent assured. "_If I run into Hojo…that will be worth more than the materials this planet possesses." _

"All right then," Cloud decided. "If you want to come with us, so be it. Besides, we could use your skills in battle in the future."

"Well then, welcome to the club Vincent!" Cait Sith said enthusiastically.

"Yes…welcome," Aeris smiled.

"Yeah…the more the merrier," Hobbes said.

"I don't mind," Calvin added. "Just…shower before getting in my buggy. Being in that coffin for that long can't be good for your hygiene."

"_Buggy? I hate to tell you, but if we're going to go north, we're going to have to go on foot…no vehicles can make it through the Neibelheim mountain path." _

"WHAT!" Calvin shouted in outrage.

"Oh yeah…I remember that path being a rough one. The buggy doesn't have the horse power to make the climb."

"Aw man," Calvin groaned. "I don't want to walk."

"Too bad," Tifa replied. "We don't have a choice."

Helicopters could be heard in the distance. Everyone looked to the sky to where the helicopters could be heard. On those helicopters was the Shinra logo.

"The Shinra? What are they doing here?" Aeris asked.

"They're obviously here to check into the mayhem that just happened here," Cloud answered. "If we don't get out of here, there's going to be more trouble. We need to go to the mountains ahead now."

No one, not even Calvin, argued with this decision. They quickly gathered their belongings, hid the buggy, and headed for the Neibelheim Mountains.


	24. Rocket Town

Chapter Twenty-Four: Rocket Town

It took them at least three hours to hike through Mount Neibelheim, battling monsters that were hungry for human flesh and traveling through its rough terrain. Despite these conditions, everyone, even Calvin, remained determined to make it through the mountains and as far away from Neibelheim as possible. The last thing they needed in this part of their journey was for the Shinra to take them all the way back to Midgar, the stating point of their journey.

During their trip through the mountains, they each grew in their battles with the monsters that inhabited Mount Neibelheim. Vincent proved his worth with his shot gun skills and aim. Calvin and Hobbes continued to impress everyone as their skills in battle increased one battle after another. Hobbes began to master the art of conjuring the power of the materia and unleashing its magic on enemies and Calvin's skills with his dart gun and deathblow materia got better with each monster he eliminated. Also, Hobbes continued to annihilate monsters with his Eye of the Tiger limit break and Calvin killed off monsters as either Safari Al or Tracer Bullet.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, they had all found the end of the mountain trail that led to a small, flat, grassy plain.

"…finally…" Aeris gasped as she sat down in the meadow, resting her head against the smooth grass.

"Ugh," Barret grunted. "I thought that trail was never going to end."

"That Matera Keeper and those dragons certainly didn't make things easier on us, did they?" Tifa added, lying down next to Aeris.

"It's been too long since I've gotten to move around this much," Vincent said aloud to no one, seeming to have enjoyed the experience.

"I know I don't want to move around right now," Hobbes gasped as he fell face first on the ground.

"…I'm too pooped to poop," Calvin whined as he joined the rest of the crew minus Vincent and Cloud in resting on the ground.

"I think we're all worn out after that hike," Cloud admitted. "But we can't stay out here…there are monsters lurking about out here as well."

"Well, then why not go to that town nearby," Cait Sith suggested, pointing towards a town in the distance.

The town appeared to be smaller than other towns in the world, but there was one significant feature about it that everyone noticed right away: a giant rocket.

"Well, it looks like a peaceful town," Red XIII said.

"Wait a sec…I know that town…I ain't going near that place!" Barret sneered. "That's the town where those scum Shinra have their space program!"

"Barret…that program was terminated by the Shinra a long time ago. This town is of no importance to the Shinra anymore," Cloud replied. "If we go there, we won't be doing Shinra any favors."

"Forget the Shinra," Calvin said, gazing at the town. "I want to see that rocket!"

"And I wouldn't mind seeing if they have an inn we could sleep in," Aeris added, sounding a little tired.

"Tch…fine," Barret finally agreed. "But only for a rest…I don't wanna stay there any longer than I hafta."

"Then let's go," Cloud decided.

Upon arriving in the town, they split up and began to ask its residence the whereabouts of the inn. However, Calvin wasn't focused on finding the inn. Instead, he was engrossed with the rocket. In fact, he was almost drooling over it.

"Aw man, this is SO COOL!" Calvin squealed as he raced towards the rocket. But before he got too far, Barret grabbed him by the collar of his shirt.

"Aw, no ya don't, kid," Barret sneered. "We're all staying together. Got it?"

"AW, BUT I WANT TO SEE THE ROCKET!" he whined.

"Calvin, there are more important things at hand right now. First, we need to get some rest and then, we need to find out where Sephiroth is heading."

"Wait a minute…Sephiroth just tried to kill us all a few hours ago and we're going AFTER him?" Hobbes shivered.

"Ya can call it quits now if ya want," Barret replied.

"Never!" Hobbes roared. "Tigers don't quit!"

"Glad to hear it," Barret chuckled. "Now, let's find that inn."

"Great idea!" Calvin blurted. "You guys look for it over there and I'll look for it by the rocket!"

"Nice try, Calvin. You're coming with us," Tifa sighed as she picked up Calvin and carried him under her arm.

After a little searching, they had found an inn. But to their dismay, there was no vacancy.

"Well, THAT idea's been shut out," Aeris sighed. "I'm starting to get sleepy, too."

"So what's the plan now?" Cait Sith inquired.

"The innkeeper said that some people will be checking out in about an hour, so we won't have to wait for very long."

"Great! While we're waiting, why don't we go see the rocket?" Calvin suggested.

"NO!!!" everyone, including Hobbes, shouted at the same time.

"…you're no fun," Calvin mumbled.

"What we're GOING to do in the meantime is ask around and see if anyone has seen Sephiroth at all."

"Excuse me," a voice from behind the group whispered. Everyone turned around to see a woman dressed in a lab coat approaching them with a handful of groceries.

"_Can we be of assistance to you ma'am?"_ Vincent asked.

"Oh no,: she assured. "It's just…I couldn't help but overhear your predicament. If you're looking for a place to rest, you're more than welcome to stay at my house for a little bit."

"Oh, Cloud, may we?" Aeris begged. "I don't think I can wait to take a nap for an hour."

"Me neither…" Hobbes yawned. "Tigers tend to get cranky if they don't have their afternoon cat naps."

Cloud thought about it for a minute before deciding to take up the woman's offer.

"Thank you, madam! We are in your debt." Cait Sith said, expressing gratitude.

"Please, call me Shera," the woman replied. "The house is just over here."

Within a few minutes, they had arrived at Shera's house. It was smaller than the other houses in Rocket Town and was messier than normal inside.

"Please excuse the mess," Shera groaned as she placed her groceries on the counter. "We're out constantly and don't have much of a chance to clean up around here."

"We?" Red XIII asked.

"Me, the captain, and his daughter. You see, I'm an engineer in this town…the only one, in fact, and people are calling me constantly for help with certain appliances. I'm lucky to have time to eat. The captain has his duties as well, which consist of maintaining the rocket in case the Space Program decides to re-launch it someday. As for his daughter…she's in college most of the time and between her homework, her boyfriend, and part time jobs, she doesn't have much time to help out around here."

"What do you mean the captain's daughter? Isn't she your daughter too?" Tifa asked.

"Oh heaven's no!" Shera laughed. "The captain and I aren't married and she's not my daughter…though I don't know who the mother is."

"I'm sorry to hear of your troubles." Red XIII said.

"Oh, don't worry about it," Shera assured. "Besides, the captain's daughter is coming home for break today, so she'll be able to help out around the house for a little bit."

As Shera announced this, there came a knock at the door.

"That'll be her now," Shera said and answered the door.

Everyone could hear Shera open the door and greet the girl, expressing joy and happiness to have her home. As they listened to them make small talk, Hobbes began sniffing the air as though he had picked up a scent. He studied the scent intensely as if he recognized it. After a few seconds, Hobbes' face became paralyzed with fear.

"…oh no…she lives HERE?" he shrieked.

"Hobbes? Are you okay?" Tifa asked with concern.

"Calvin! We've got to get out of here now! It's HER!"

"Hobbes, what are you talking about?" Calvin demanded.

Before Hobbes got to answer, they could hear Shera making her way back into the kitchen. Without a second to lose, Hobbes dove behind a couch and did not come back out.

"What the heck's gotten into him?" Barret asked, stumped.

When Shera returned, she returned with a young woman who looked to be about eighteen years old. She had dirty-blonde hair and had a somewhat muscular body. She wore a sweatshirt and blue jeans and carried a pile of books under her arm and a suitcase in her spare hand.

The teenage college student looked at the strangers in the room, a little shocked at their presence. She didn't know any of them, until she set her eyes on Calvin. At first, Calvin hadn't recognized her. But at second glance, he realized who she was and was immediately stricken with paralyzing fear.

"AHHHHHHH!" Calvin shrieked. "NOT HER! NOT…ROSALYN!!!"


End file.
